BBC Strictly Come Dancing star fights back tears as she addresses 'sad' split

A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star has fought back tears after addressing her split from a co-star. BBC dancer Nadiya Bychkova appeared on ITV Loose Women on ITV on Thursday (January 9), where she discussed splitting from Kai Widdrington.

The Strictly Come Dancing pros called it a day last year - after two years in a relationship. Mum-of-one Nadiya opened up her on her split from the strapping dancer as she chatted to Charlene White, Frankie Bridge, Sue Cleaver, and Katie Piper.

Sue, the ITV Coronation Street star, asked: "Last time you were here you were with Kai. And I think you said openly that you've broken up now. I just wanted to know how do you manage that situation, you're a great example of how to manage - I mean with all had break-ups and stuff- but how do we carry on working with each other?

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"Do you find it an easy thing to do, to separate it all?" Nadiya replied: "Well, I don't think any break-up is easy. But we're professionals, so we obviously knew that we would have to go back to work together, and that's what we do."

Nadiya added: "I think in life it's about how you deal with things. It's so much thrown to us and you need to deal with things and maybe at some point we'll be able to talk about it but right now, it's all about the tour."

In 2024, Bychkova was paired with Olympic swimmer Tom Dean. They were the first couple to be eliminated after losing the first dance-off to Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones. She had previously been a professional dancer on the Bosnian version of the show.

Other previous partners of the dancer include Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker, Lee Ryan and former England goalkeeper David James too.