SHAKE IT OFF
Strictly Come Dancing’s Nikita Kuzmin breaks silence after splitting from girlfriend ‘to focus on the show’
STRICTLY Come Dancing's Nikita Kuzmin is shaking off his break-up and is throwing himself into work – sharing videos of him in training with Paralympian Ellie Simmonds.
In the first videos since news that he'd split with his long-term girlfriend Nicole Wirt broke, Nikita opted to ignore his relationship struggles to instead share time with Ellie, who was seen hilariously cracking under the pressure of the rehearsal room.
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Ellie was seen lying face down on the floor as she laughed and talked to herself, willing her body to have better posture after facing critiques from the judges about it last week.
Ahead of the annual Movie Week, Ellie can be seen telling herself: "Yes Ellie, you can. You can stay in there. Okay." before getting the giggles.
Laughing along at what Ellie is doing, Nikita responds: "Who are you talking to?" which causes her to finally notice that she's here.
"Okay Stop. This is how bamboozled my brain is getting," she tells him through hysterical laughter. "Speaking to myself. I was going to play something out."
She then collapses on the floor laughing, telling him that her "brain is fried".
Eventually she gets up, and he asks to see her posture, causing her to do an over-exaggerated pose to show off her form ahead of the new routine.
It seems a much-needed giggle was needed amid the pressure of the dance practice, especially considering Nikita has split from his girlfriend of five years.
A source told The Sun: “Nikita wanted to totally focus on this series of Strictly and decided a while back he wanted to end his relationship with Nicole.
“They had been together for five years and it ended up being a mutual decision."
It was added that personal commitments including Nicole's work and life in Germany further cemented their decision to call their romance a day.
"Nikita only wants the best for Nicole and she feels the same about him," the source added. "For now he wants to put all of his focus on Ellie and their journey on Strictly."
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Ellie and Nikita came fifth on the leaderboard last week, and are now hoping to keep their successful streak going for Movie Week.
That posture is going to come in handy seeing as they're tackling the famously tricky Quickstep to Peppy and George from The Artist.
Will Nikita's sacrifice prove worth it in the long-run of the show?
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One.
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