Strictly star Nikita Kuzmin ‘confirms new romance’

Choreographer is paired with ‘Bad Education’ star Layton Williams on this year’s edition of BBC dance competition

Nikita Kuzmin’s latest Instagram post appears to confirm he is dating model Lauren Jaine, with fans of the Strictly Come Dancing star congratulating the couple on social media.

Kuzmin, 25, is currently paired with Layton Williams, the star of BBC’s Bad Education, with the dance couple at the top of the Strictly leaderboard after their Cha Cha Cha routine on Saturday (14 October) left all four judges impressed.

Jaine joined English TV presenter Jeff Brazier, whose son Bobby is competing on the hit competition series, in the audience for Saturday night’s show, amid rumours she and Kuzmin were dating.

On Sunday (15 October), the choreographer appeared to confirm the romance rumours in a multi-slide Instagram post, which included a picture of the couple posing together.

Amid photos and videos from rehearsals for Strictly and the subsequent live show, Kuzmin also shared a video of him with Jaine taken at a supermarket.

His caption read: “Photo dump Sunday.”

Fans congratulated Kuzmin and Jaine in the comments, with one person writing that they “make a lovely couple”.

“Aww Nikita so lovely to see you happy with your beautiful girlfriend, xx so glad for you,” another comment read.

Kuzmin and Jaine were first spotted together at the Strictly live show on 9 October, with a source telling The Sun that “they have been dating for months and seem to have an amazing connection”.

The newspaper also reported the couple attended the Tina Turner Musical Gala night at the Aldwych theatre in London last month, and travelled to Croatia together in August. Jaine shared multiple photographs from their holiday together on Instagram, as fans speculated whether they were dating.

The Independent has contacted Kuzmin’s representatives for comment.

Williams and Kuzmin made Strictly history during Saturday’s live show, as they were awarded the earliest score of 10 for a Cha Cha Cha routine, earning 37 points in total.

Judge Motsi Mabuse gave them a standing ovation, and said: “You add a whole kind of flavour to this whole competition. I could watch it day and night.”

Before Jaine, Kuzmin was reportedly dating Australian TikTok star and host of The Hotline sex podcast, Charlie Backshall.

The pair were pictured holding hands during a stroll in northwest London in February this year, in photographs exclusively obtained by Hello! magazine.

Backshall, 21, confirmed she was dating “a public figure” during an episode of her podcast in December 2022, adding she’s “following his lead in terms of how public we’re making things” because his brand is “very family friendly” while hers is not.