STEPPING OUT
Take your partners? looks at some of the professional dancers who waltzed away from Strictly Come Dancing
MARION McMULLEN
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MARRIED couple Ola and James Jordan have now both left the Strictly dance floor. James was axed in 2014, but Ola was persuaded to remain to dance with Hollyoaks actor Ashley Taylor-Dawson and they reached the semi-finals. However, she decided to leave the following year ending her reign as the longest-serving professional dancer on the show.
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PASHA KOVALEV and Rachel Riley, left, met when the Countdown regular appeared on the BBC dance show in 2013. They welcomed their daughter Maven into the world in December and Pasha announced he was leaving Strictly last year after taking part in eight series and making it through to four finals. He was crowned champion with Caroline Flack in 2014.
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HUSBAND and wife team Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, inset, joined Strictly in 2004 and both have lifted the mirrorball trophy over the years. Sheffield-born Darren became a judge on the Lebanese version of Dancing With The Stars, when he left the BBC show in 2009, while his Russian wife Lilia judged the Turkish. They also both worked as producers and choreographers on Ireland’s Dancing With The Stars.
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RUSSIAN dancer Artem Chigvintsev won Strictly in 2010 with actress Kara Tointon, but left in 2013 and joined the American version of the show, Dancing With
The Stars. He partnered former professional wrestler Nikki Bella on the US show and they became parents to baby Matteo in July.
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AJ Pritchard, pictured below, announced in March he would not be returning for this year’s show. The 25-year-old said he wanted to do more television work with his brother Curtis and there are rumours that AJ is to appear on this year’s I’m a Celebrity...
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KEVIN CLIFTON, inset, won Strictly in 2018 with his now girlfriend Stacey Dooley, and he decided to call it a day after six years on the show. He announced his decision on social media saying: “The whole team behind the scenes have always made the Strictly family what it is and the loveliest show to work for. Thank you to anyone who has ever voted for me and my partners. It means the world.”
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ERIN BOAG, below, was a regular for 10 series and left in 2010 to start a family. Her professional dance partner Anton du Beke is godfather to her son Ewan and she and Anton continue to sell-out venues across the country with their popular dance shows.
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IAN WAITE said his farewell to Strictly in 2010, but is now a regular presenter on BBC2 spin-off show It Takes Two, with Zoe Ball. She, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton du
Beke were among the Strictly guests who attended Ian’s wedding to Drew Merriman at Woburn Abbey.
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FLAVIA CACACE and Vincent Simone had been dancing together professionally for more than two decades and both decided to call it a day on Strictly in 2014. They have gone on to star in sell-out dance tours and Flavia met her future husband, actor Jimi Mistry, when she partnered him on Strictly in 2010.
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NEW ZEALANDER Brendan Cole said an emotional goodbye to Strictly in 2018 after he was told the BBC would not renewing his contract after 13 years with the dance show. He said later: “I would have preferred to have made the decision myself, but maybe I would never have made it because I love being on the show.”