Strictly’s Neil Jones ‘to get his first celebrity partner’ after splitting from wife Katya
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s Neil Jones is set to get his FIRST celebrity partner – one year after the kissing scandal between Seann Walsh and Katya Jones. It is a bittersweet time for the 37-year-old hunk, who announced his split from wife Katya earlier today. This evening, The Sun revealed that 29-year-old Katya has been reinstated […]
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s Neil Jones is set to get his FIRST celebrity partner – one year after the kissing scandal between Seann Walsh and Katya Jones.
It is a bittersweet time for the 37-year-old hunk, who announced his split from wife Katya earlier today.
This evening, The Sun revealed that 29-year-old Katya has been reinstated into the main professional dancer line-up despite last year’s indiscretion.
And it has now been reported that Neil will be joining her there – for the first time since he joined the BBC One dance show in 2016.
A source revealed: “Despite the furore it caused, the Russian dancer and choreographer will remain as one of the main Strictly Come Dancing professionals, and be paired with a male celebrity next month.”
They added to The Mirror: “In a huge boost for Neil – he is also expected to be paired with a female celeb for the first time since joining the show as a group dancer in 2016.”
A BBC spokesman said that the Strictly pairings would be “revealed in due course.”
The exciting news comes just hours after Neil and Katya confirmed they were separating after 11 years together, and six years of marriage.
The pair appeared strained and distant in the final picture taken before the announcement – which comes 10 months after Katya snogged her 2018 celebrity partner.
The former couple’s romance was rocked when The Sun On Sunday pictured Katya snogging Seann outside of a pub following a late-night rehearsal.
She apologised on spin-off show It Takes Two four days after the kiss during a joint appearance with comic Seann.
Neil stood by his wife at the time, but today announced in a joint statement: “Hi everyone. As our fans and loyal supporters you are really important to us and so we wanted to let you know some news. After 11 years we have made the mutual decision to separate.
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“We will always love each other, just in a different way as friends. This will never change what a great team we make and we are really proud of everything we have achieved together.
“Our shared love of dance means we will keep working and dancing together as well as exploring individual projects. No matter what we do we will always support and respect each other.
“We wish one another every happiness and we will remain the best of friends. We are really looking forward to getting back to the ballroom and can’t wait to keep on dancing. Lots of love from us both xx”.
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