STRICTLY fans were left shocked when it was revealed that the show’s golden couple Kai Widdrington and Nadiya Bychkova had split up
The Sun exclusively revealed how the pair had been battling their off-stage problems whilst training together.
Kai and Nadiya – who has a daughter called Malia from a previous relationship – are both popular stars on Strictly Come Dancing, so their split comes a huge blow to the crisis-hit show.
No third party is involved in the couple’s break-up and pals say they “grew apart” after two “blissful” years together.
A friend told us: “It’s heartbreaking.”
The Sun can now reveal all the clues that Nadiya wasn’t ready to settle down heading for a breakup
On the topic of marriage, Nadiya was often very vague.
The couple were quizzed on the topic during a joint interview last year.
However, they both remained tight lipped on whether they would ever walk down the aisle, with Nadiya telling OK!: “Marriage is important to me.
“One day I would like to be a wife, and extend my family.”
During their two year relationship, the couple didn’t move in together:
Opening up about this decision Nadiya said in an interview: “I’m a single mum and am very protective over my daughter.
“Kai and Mila have a beautiful relationship but moving in together, it’s a big step.
“I’m sure every mum in my position would agree.”
Nadiya is work orientated, which could’ve seen the relationship take a back seat.
Reflecting on this, she said: “It’s not that simple to balance it all – we both have careers on the rise and I have a family to look after.”
Nadiya also said: “We’re focused on our work, thankfully we both understand this is part of what we do.”
The Strictly Come Dancing star was very clear about her priority being with her daughter.
In an interview with HELLO! just last month she talked about her relationship with Kai.
She said: “This was my first relationship after not being with the father of my daughter, and being a mother to Mila was and still is my priority,”
The Sun were the first to reveal that Kai and Nadiya had split.
A friend of the couple told us: “Kai and Nadiya seemed like the most perfect couple and have been so, so blissfully in love.
“But the pressures of touring – being in each other’s space 24/7, and the stress of performing a sell-out show eventually took its toll.
“They had been drifting emotionally for a while, and things actually came to a head during the tour – ironically called Behind The Magic – which, obviously, was incredibly problematic.
“They had to dance sexily and romantically together for days and nights on end, whilst trying to work through their off-stage problems. It must have been exhausting on every level.
“But they didn’t want to let down their fans, and were consummate professionals: they knew the show, quite literally, must go on.
“After a rough few weeks, they sat down together once the tour was over and decided to call it quits. It was a mutual decision.
“They remain incredibly close and are determined their split will not have any impact on the next series of Strictly.”
The couple started dating in 2022, much to the delight of fans.
They share an English bulldog, Snoopy, together – it is thought they will share custody of their beloved pooch.
They fell in love when Nadiya was partnered with then-BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, and Kai was dancing with AJ Odudu.
They gave their first joint interview in January last year.
Kai told us: “I think I speak for most of the men in Britain when I say that they would find Nadiya absolutely drop-dead gorgeous — and I still have to pinch myself sometimes.
“We liked each other, and we were texting and having phone calls and so on, and yeah, it blossomed from there.
“Then one day I was like ‘do you want to go out for dinner?’, and it went from there.”
The so-called “Strictly curse” has been abound for 20 years – since the first series – founded on the idea that participating on the Saturday night series (whether as a celebrity or a professional dancer) threatens the status of the relationship you’re in when you sign up.
Indeed, several couples have got together after being partnered-up, and the show has resulted in marriages, engagements, babies and divorces.
Smitten Kai previously admitted he could see himself proposing to Nadiya.
He added: “We are very happy together and we don’t want this to end. Of course we want to be together for life, so we will see where it goes.”
After they fell in love, Kai and Nadiya chose to keep their relationship low key on the set of Strictly.
Kai explained: “We knew that it would come out and that it would be a big thing, so we kept it private for as long as we could, which was both annoying and exciting at the same time.
“It was one of those things. We would go somewhere and only we knew we were there.
“Sometimes we would go out in disguise, or baseball caps pulled down low, etc, and we knew this period of time was only going to last a little bit
“We did let our bosses know as a professional courtesy, that was our decision.
“The BBC were totally fine with it, plus our relationship never crosses into work.
This is the latest drama to hit the smash BBC1 series – and follows two months of chaos for the programme.
Two dancers have left – Giovanni Pernice quit in the wake of an internal probe following various claims against him whilst fellow Sicilian Graziano Di Prima was fired after it emerged he had kicked and spat at his partner, Zara McDermott.
The BBC has had to completely overhaul its duty of care protocol in the wake of this newspaper’s allegations.
