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SECRETS OF STRICTLY’S SUPERCOUPLE
He’s Kevin from Grimsby, she’s the sassy Venezuelan firecracker who Len Goodman said was out of his league. But now they’re Mr and Mrs Clifton, and here they share the...
You heard it here first: despite being barely weeks into her fledgling marriage, Strictly dancer Karen Clifton had a serious wobble when it came to her celebrity partner last year. ‘I definitely wanted to run away with Jeremy Vine,’ she reveals. ‘He’s super sexy.’
Jeremy Vine? Strait-laced, slightly-awkward-on-the-dance floor Jeremy? ‘That guy is a chick magnet,’ Karen insists. ‘We would be walking down the street and women would be flocking around him. It’s that sexy voice. Seriously. I tell Kevin if he steps out of line I’m going to marry Jeremy next.’
Kevin, of course, is Kevin Clifton – ‘Kevin from Grimsby’ as Brucie liked to call him – her husband of just over a year and also a Strictly stalwart. Sharing the stage with your husband, of course, is one way of trying to manage the famous Strictly curse, which has seen apparently rock- solid relationships crumble against a backdrop of pulsating rumbas. Not that the Cliftons seem to be much at risk: they’re clearly besotted with each other. ‘I’d be an idiot,’ says Kevin, 34, throwing an arm around his drop-dead gorgeous wife – a sentiment backed up by Karen, also 34. ‘Hey, look at me,’ she pouts, and Kevin adds, ‘She’s completely mad, by the way.’
On paper they’re not the most obvious of matches – the sassy Venezuelan-born New Yorker and the diminutive chap from Lincolnshire (Kevin’s only 5ft 8in). But Kevin was instantly smitten when their paths collided seven years ago in New York. Both were working for a touring company called Burn The Floor and it fell to Kevin to show Karen the choreography ropes. ‘I was showing off for all I was worth. Not that Karen remembers any of it,’ he grins. ‘I thought she was out of my league, to be honest.’ This sentiment was echoed by judge Len Goodman, who told Kevin, ‘B****y hell, you’re punching above your weight, aren’t you?’ when he heard they were dating.
Actually, in the end it was Karen who made the first move. ‘I knew it was down to me. And I then told him really early on when we were dating that I was going to marry him,’ she says. Kevin chips in, ‘So I had no choice really.’ In fact he went the extra mile on that front, proposing to her on stage in front of a packed-out West End theatre performance of Burn The Floor three years ago. ‘I got down on one knee, everyone went mental, Karen started crying,’ he recalls. ‘It was pretty amazing.’
The pair married in July last year at the fabulous four- domed One Great George Street in Westminster and now live in Wimbledon, south London, with Karen’s designer shoe collection (she turned up for our photoshoot clutching a pair of Christian Louboutin heels, and as we chat she confides with a devilish grin that she’s off to ‘buy the shoes that Kevin will be giving me for Christmas’).
It was Karen who made it to Strictly first. Both auditioned for the show in 2012 but as they only needed a female dancer Kevin had to settle for being a choreographer. ‘Keeping an eye on her,’ he jokes. He joined the next year, teamed up with Susanna Reid, and has been runner-up in each of his years on the show. He must be desperate to get his hands on that glitterball trophy now, surely? ‘I never go in thinking I want to win,’ he insists. ‘I just want the celebrity to have a good time. You start off thinking. “Let’s just get through this week”, then as the weeks go by you just want to get to Blackpool.’
That’s looking likely for both of them: As we speak Kevin and his dance partner, former Eternal singer Louise Redknapp, and Karen, who’s been paired with ex-Pop Idol singer Will Young, are still very much in the competition. Karen was over- joyed when she learned who’d partner her. ‘It was like receiving a big Will Young- shaped Christmas present,’ she says. ‘He’s confident and a natural performer but his strength is storytelling. It’s like he’s singing a song while he’s dancing.’ Louise, meanwhile, came highly recommended by Kevin’s 2014 partner, The Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge. ‘Frankie texted saying she hoped I’d get Louise as they’re good friends, so I was hoping it would be her although I thought my height was against me,’ he reveals.
Kevin is usually teamed with one of the smallest girls in the competition, which restricts his pool of potential partners, but this year he found there was an abundance of
tiny riches. Including Louise? ‘Yup. I thought she was tall but she’s really small which is great,’ he grins, although he stresses she’s been working on her confidence. ‘Yes she was a pop star, but she’s been out of the limelight raising her family. She’s aware that there are younger girls in the show and she’s worried about letting me down,’ he confides.
All eyes this series, of course, were from the start on Ed Balls, the former Shadow Chancellor. He’s looked about as far out of his comfort zone as it’s possible to be on each performance, but has been universally applauded for his bravery. The Cliftons insist it’s been a different picture backstage. He’s ‘hilarious’ and ‘not at all shy’, apparently. ‘Ed has embraced every part of Strictly,’ says Kevin. Karen agrees. ‘He’s been happy to really shake his stuff.’
It happens all the time, they say: initially cautious about the Strictly fripperies, by week three the contestants can’t contain themselves. Take former TOWIE star Mark Wright, Karen’s partner in 2014. ‘At the start he was all, “I don’t want colour in my costumes, and definitely no sequins.” By week three he was demanding more sparkles,’ says Kevin. ‘It’s the same for the girls,’ adds Karen. ‘They start off a bit subdued, then by week three they’re saying, “More fake tan, more makeup, more hair extensions, can I have the split in my dress higher?” They love the dressing up, being sexy.’
Which brings us back to that Strictly curse: it surely can’t be easy watching your beloved get so close to – in Kevin’s case in particular – some seriously attractive women. Both Kevin and Karen say they understand why passions boil over. ‘I think some of it is to do with the Strictly bubble,’ explains Kevin. Karen adds, ‘From now until Christmas it’s all the contestants can see – the training, the rehearsals, the show. It’s all-encompassing.’
It’s one reason they make a point of including celebrities’ partners in the process as much as possible. ‘They need to feel included, as it’s happening to them as well, just in a different way,’ says Kevin. The Cliftons have pulled this off pretty well, remaining in contact with Mr and Mrs Jeremy Vine and with the family of Karen’s 2013 partner, Hairy Biker Dave Myers. ‘We spent a weekend with Dave’s family in the summer and Kevin and I have just been at Chris Evans’ Car-Fest show with Jeremy’s family,’ Karen reveals.
What about the other dancers? Aside from the fact Kevin’s sister Joanne is a Strictly pro too, do they have any special pals? ‘We all get on,’ says Kevin. ‘It feels more like a big family than us all competing against each other. As for Joanne, she’s less interested in the trophy than in beating me.’
Chez Clifton meanwhile, too much post- match analysis is banned by Karen, although they do compare the occasional note. ‘After rehearsals during the week I just like to have a glass of wine and unwind in front of the television – I love Bake Off – but Kevin’s brain is still whirring. He’ll go and look at different routines on YouTube.’ Borderline workaholics, they’ve also set up a dance school and just announced a 16-date nationwide tour next year, a dance extravaganza. ‘If we have more than a day where we aren’t busy we’re panicking and coming up with something,’ says Kevin.
Back on Strictly they’re anxious to emphasise that you can never count your chickens, even if both their celebrity partners have performance experience. ‘In the past we’ve been able to look at the line-up and have a decent guess about who’s going to be in the final but this year it’s really open,’ says Karen. ‘Anything could happen.’
Which brings us to the judges. Unlike the famously testy Brendan Cole, the smiley Cliftons have never had a public run-in with any of them, although Kevin confesses to getting twitchy on behalf of his wife. ‘When I was in what we call Claudia’s Castle up the stairs watching Jeremy and Karen dance last year I’d be fidgety as the judges started tearing into Jeremy. I’d think, “You know what, he got everything right, he just didn’t have the flair.”’ Kevin is always in his wife’s corner, in fact – when she broke down in tears after Len Goodman’s criticism of her rumba with Mark Wright, Kevin could be seen shouting support in the background.
Craig, says Kevin, is the friendliest of the judges, despite being the meanest on set. ‘They’re all nice but obviously Len and Bruno are flying back and forth to America to do Dancing With The Stars so they’re pretty tired and Darcey has her family,’ he says. This, of course, is Len’s last series. ‘He will be missed,’ says Kevin. ‘It won’t be the same without him.’
All the more reason to sit back and enjoy the warm glow this year. ‘It’s a lovely comfort blanket, isn’t it?’ says Kevin. ‘With everything else that’s going on. Strictly is just good, reliable fun. Like watching your favourite film on a rainy Sunday. You know exactly what to expect and there’s something very reassuring about that.’
Strictly Come Dancing, tonight, 6.30pm, BBC1.
‘I told him I was going to marry him when we were dating’