The well-known “Strictly curse“ seems to have struck again as Olympic gold-medalist Tom Dean and his girlfriend ended their relationship during the shows run. The 24-year old athlete who got eliminated first from this years competition‚ had been dancing with pro-dancer Nadiya Bychkova
The split from Charlotte Phillips (a communications pro at News UK) happened roughly 2 weeks into filming; however an inside source claims the timing was just a co-incidence: “The break-up has nothing to do with the show they just naturally drifted apart and remain good friends“
The shows history includes several relationship shake-ups - the most talked-about happened bout 6 years ago when Seann Walsh got caught kissing his dance partner Katya Jones. That incident led to Walshʼs relationship ending; Jones split from her husband several months later
Dean and Bychkova have been spotted at various events together including a fancy restaurant meet-up last week where he wrote on social media: “What an afternoon Best food and best company“. The Ukrainian dancer (whos recently ended her own relationship with co-star Kai Widdrington) says about working with ex-partners: “We work together but we arent friends and thats okay - when you see me dancing with him it will be amazing“
The three-time Olympic champ - who got his MBE couple years back seemed pretty down about getting voted off the show first: he felt “genuinely shocked“ and gutted about the publicʼs decision