IT’S two decades since Strictly Come Dancing first waltzed its way onto our screens and no other show in TV history has left such a tangled web of heartbreak in its wake.
Since the first episode aired on 15 May 2004, the so-called 'Strictly curse' has seen relationships crumble with dance floor romances and punishing rehearsal schedules to blame.
Controversially, Judge Craig Revel Horwood once said: “I think of it as a blessing, to be honest. One person is married, the other one had a girlfriend but my point in this entire thing is: if you come on Strictly, sometimes you are in a relationship that is not working anyway.
“There has to be something wrong in your relationship before it all goes awry.”
It’s a good point - but how can one programme sound the death knell of so many love affairs?
The curse crept in soon after the cameras first began rolling on the BBC primetime show, which drew an average of around 8.7 million viewers for the final last year.
Series one winner Brendan Cole left his fiancé, fellow Strictly professional Camilla Dallerup, during filming for the very first series in spring 2004.
Brendan was said to have fallen for his celebrity partner and inaugural winner Natasha Kaplinsky, although the duo didn’t confirm they were romantically involved.
Natasha said later: “There was chemistry, of course, and I certainly fell in love with dancing, but I did not fall in love with Brendan.”
However, writing in her 2015 memoir Strictly Inspirational, Camilla wasn’t convinced.
“To this day I have no idea whether it was her fame and celebrity that swept him away or if he really did feel a strong connection with her,” she said.
“I’m guessing it was probably a bit of both. It felt as if the fact that we’d just got engaged meant nothing to either of them.”
The rumours continued to swirl and BBC newsreader Natasha split from her partner of 12 years, management consultant Mike Barnard, soon after her victory.
The pair had been on the rocks prior to her stint on the show as she’d had a fling with former colleague Lloyd Bracey the previous year.
Some Strictly dancers have seen more than one romance fail during their career on the show, with love lives more complicated than the steps of the rhumba.
Professionals Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace were a partnership on and off screen, until she waltzed off with her Strictly partner, Matt Di Angelo, in 2007.
The Eastenders star, who was 20 at the time, insisted that he wasn’t the reason for the split, telling the Daily Mail: “The funny thing was the story did not start off as true, but the more you read it, the more you started to believe it and actually act on it.”
The pairing wasn’t to last away from the ballroom - Flavia ditched Matt three years later and went on to marry fellow actor Jimi Mistry, who she met that same year as his Strictly leading lady.
Meanwhile, Vincent moved on with Susan Duddy but left her distraught when he confessed to an affair with co-star Kristina Rihanoff in 2009, after they got close on the Strictly tour.
Susan was five months pregnant with their first child at the time and took Vincent back after the birth, going on to have a second baby in 2013 and tying the knot two years later. But they divorced in 2021, three years after quietly separating.
Relationship counsellor Georgina Sturmer says the very nature of Strictly is the reason why it is the death knell of so many love affairs.
"It isn't necessarily the case that relationships break down due to Strictly, rather that it highlights when things are not quite right," says Georgina.
"The demanding nature of competing in the show can put strain on existing problems.
"For example, the long days of training and being away from home mean their partner could feel resentful, frustrated and even jealous, especially when they see their other half having the time of their life on screen while they look after the kids and keep the show on the road.
"The physical nature of their interaction with their 'co-worker' will be unlike any other job they have done too. How often are you pressed up against another person for ten hours a day? It's a very intimate experience, even if nothing romantic occurs.
"Contestants often experience physical changes during the show - stronger, slimmer bodies, a more glamorous look - as well as revealing a new side of themselves. This isn't always positive for their existing relationship.
"Aside from the 'curse', you also see plenty of contestants and dancers who are unattached become couples. I think the show almost gives people 'permission' to find love or have an affair, because the public almost 'want' and 'expect' it."
Kristina would move on with her celebrity dance partner, boxer Jo Calzaghe, in 2009, who had dumped his girlfriend of five years, Jo-Emma Larvin, a week into the series. The new couple dated for four years but their partnership failed when he asked the Russian dancer not to accept a role in a stage production.
She told Hello: “He was sick and tired of waiting around for me and said that if I truly loved him, I wouldn’t have taken a job in the West End.”
Kristina finally got her happy ending in 2013 after she was paired with England rugby player Ben Cohen. The player left his wife of 11 years, Abby, and denied he was romantically involved with his blonde dance partner.
But they eventually became a couple and had a daughter together in 2016.
As the show gained momentum so did the scandal.
Series 11 brought another marriage casualty when Countdown maths whizz Rachel Riley announced a surprise split from her husband of 15 months, Jamie Gilbert.
And, less than a year later, she went public with her love for Strictly partner Pasha Kovalev - insisting there was no overlap.
That same season saw the death knell of Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid’s 16-year relationship. She split with sports correspondent Dominic Cotton, father of her three sons, just three months after finishing as runner up with Kevin Clifton.
She insisted the show wasn’t a factor, but admitted: “Unfortunately our relationship was at that stage. If you look at Strictly overall, the vast majority of people end up in the same relationships.”
The same could not be said for her professional partner.
Kevin wed fellow Strictly dancer Karen Hauer in July 2015, hoping this third marriage would be the charm. But the union lasted less than three years and they split in March 2018, insisting they were still friends during an interview on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show.
Later that year Kevin was paired with documentary presenter Stacey Dooley and the coupling was a fruitful one in many ways. Not only did they lift the series 16 glitterball trophy, but they fell in love and would go on to have daughter Minnie in January 2023.
It wasn’t the perfect love story - Stacey had been seeing Sam Tucknott at the time, who she dumped three months after her victory. He was reportedly paranoid about her relationship with Kevin after finding messages between the two on her phone.
While Coronation Street star Georgia May Foote claimed that soap opera style drama would not follow her from the cobbles to the dancefloor when she competed in 2015, she broke off her relationship with her co-star Sean Ward shortly after the glitter ball stopped spinning.
And it wasn’t long before she was spotted on the arm of dance partner Giovanni Pernice off screen too.
Sean was reportedly enraged with jealousy during filming for the show, even accompanying Georgia to rehearsals. Gio and Georgia were later spotted kissing at Disneyland but even their romance didn’t have a fairytale ending.
They split just a year later, with the actress stating: “There is nobody else involved. Although it was not an easy decision to make, sometimes you realise that it is better to be friends and this is one of those times.”
During the same series, Call The Midwife star Helen George announced her break up with husband Oliver Boot after three years. But she claimed the split had happened weeks before and that she decided to join Strictly to ease her heartache rather than fuel it.
“Strange as it sounds, I thought it would be like a sort of therapy after my divorce,” she confessed. “I'd spoken to quite a few people who said how it really helped them through difficult times. You are focused on this one thing, it's an emotional journey.
“I was so naive that I thought no-one would be interested in me, so that was a shock. I soon realised I didn’t want all that celebrity stuff.”
Arguably the biggest scandal - and the one that provoked most headlines - was in October 2018 when comedian Seann Walsh was caught on camera locking lips outside a pub with his dance partner Katya Jones.
Not only was Seann in a live-in relationship with girlfriend Rebecca Humphries – and the kiss happened on her birthday – but Katya was married to fellow Strictly professional Neil Jones.
The stand-up was immediately dumped by his lover and she issued a statement on Twitter saying she had long had her suspicions but he had branded her “nuts” when she raised her concerns.
Seann and Katya’s dalliance also saw them wheeled out on spin-off show It Takes Two to give a toe-curling apology to fans. The incident was a ratings winner however, with more than 10 million people tuning in to see their ‘dance of shame’ before they were voted off three weeks later.
Katya and Neil put on a brave face but it would spell the end of their relationship and they split in 2019, after 11 years together. In a joint statement, they claimed: “We will always love each other, just in a different way, as friends.”
However, a wandering eye isn’t responsible for every Strictly break up.
Former pop queen Louise Redknapp said it was the pressure of taking part that led to the shock unravelling of her 19-year relationship to footballer Jamie Redknapp – and her realisation that she had put her career on hold.
Her on-screen bond with co-star Kevin Clifton, while just for show, also led to her husband’s friends teasing him about the chemistry, with Louise recalling: “I could see Jamie getting angrier and angrier with the jokes.”
The pair separated shortly after she appeared in the 2016 series and she later wrote in her book You’ve Got This: “If I'd done the show four years earlier, this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have walked away from my marriage.”
More recently, The Wanted singer Max George had been happily dating Stacey Giggs for four years, and playing stepfather to her two kids, when he signed up for the dancing bonanza back in 2020.
Within months of the series ending, the couple were no more and Max was sharing Instagram selfies with fellow contestant and Eastenders actress Maisie Smith, after the pair grew close on tour.
Celebrity PR expert Natalie Trice says that the publicity generated by the relationship dramas behind the scenes is no bad thing for the contestants - or the show itself.
“The appeal of Strictly is multifaceted - it's not just about dance and points but also the human stories and potential romances that capture the audience's imagination," says Natalie.
"Many viewers are captivated by the prospect of seeing real relationships evolve, whether they culminate in romance or result in breakup, adding a layer of unpredictability and interest.
“We also must remember that in the world of entertainment and celebrity, not all PR is bad PR. While relationship breakdowns and scandals are typically negative, in the context of a show like Strictly, they can paradoxically increase viewer interest and engagement.
“This heightened attention does not always translate to negative outcomes for those involved. Participants often experience a boost in public visibility, which can lead to new opportunities. However, when families, partners and kids are involved, the scandals can have a devastating impact, so this isn’t to be taken lightly.
“Seann Walsh and Katya Jones's kiss might have been across the front pages, but both continued with their respective careers and moved on personally. Katya has remained a professional dancer on the show and Seann participated in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Even their exes have done well - Rebecca Humphries wrote a book and Neil Jones is still a successful dancer.”
Stacey then accused her ex of cheating and was said to feel ‘betrayed’.
The following year, Olympian Adam Peaty competed alongside Katya Jones, making it to week seven and having a controversial ‘near kiss’ at the end of their Argentinian tango. His girlfriend Eirianedd Munro made light of it at the time but the following August, the couple split.
Eirianedd, the mother of his son George, later said Strictly was “the beginning of the end” for them. She told the Sunday Times: “My advice wouldn’t be to the partners of those going on Strictly, but for the celebrities participating; involve your family in the process – it can be a very lonely process for partners.
“And if you’re not strong enough to go through the process – if your relationship isn’t secure, or you don’t know how to handle the intense attention that comes with it – don’t go on the show.”
Peaty has since found love again via Strictly – he is dating Holly Ramsay, sister of his series 19 co-star Tilly Ramsay.
That same year saw chef John Whaite make it to the final with professional Johannes Radebe, as the first same-sex male pairing in the show’s history. They were viewer favourites thanks to the strong friendship they forged on the dance floor.
However, two years later, John would admit in his memoir Dancing on Eggshells that he “fell in love” with his Strictly partner - and ended up taking some time apart from his fiance Paul Atkins as he processed his feelings.
He wrote: “After that final dance, I hung up my clothes for the last time. I felt a sense of loss. Not because the competition was over, I was knackered and ready for a break, but because I wouldn’t get to see Johannes every single day.
“Johannes knew [what] could happen. He had seen it a thousand times with his dance companions over the years. When you are physically pressed against another man for ten hours a day, things move emotionally... He was being cautious. Strictly has a magical way of revealing the truth.”
Luckily John was a rare celebrity who was able to shake off the curse. He rebuilt his love with long-term partner Paul and the pair married in New York in February this year.
