Strictly’s Tiny Dancers: Couples Who Met on the Show and Had Babies, Plus Dianne Buswell’s Historic Dance as a Pregnant Pro

Dianne Buswell will become the first ever Strictly Come Dancing professional to compete on the show whilst pregnant after announcing her baby news.

The pro dancer, 36, and her YouTuber partner Joe Sugg, 33, took to Instagram last weekend to announce the news they are expecting a baby boy.

Dianne and Joe, who met on the BBC series in 2018, announced the happy news just as the hit show returns to our screens, with viewers set to find out which celeb Dianne is partnered with on Saturday night.   

But whilst Dianne will be the first pregnant pro to perform, her and Joe’s child is far from the first Strictly baby, with a string of dancers and celebs adding to their families after meeting on the show.

The dancefloor may have ended its fair share of relationships thanks to the infamous Strictly curse, but there’s plenty of families of who have the show to thank for their happily ever afters. 

Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton 

2018 was a bumper year for Strictly romances. As well as sparking Joe and Dianne’s relationship, the series also saw TV presenter Stacey Dooley meet her future beau Kevin Clifton.

Stacey and the Strictly veteran lifted the Glitterball but didn’t actually embark on a romance until early 2019. 

At the time of the BBC competition, Stacey was in a seven-year relationship with personal trainer Sam Tucknott, who was a regular in the studio audience.

But four months after the show ended and as Stacey and Kevin headed out on tour together, romance rumours intensified. 

They went onto confirm their relationship and move in together before welcoming their daughter Minnie in 2023.

In March, Stacey released a book called Dear Minnie, in which she wrote a heartfelt letter to her now two-year-old. Kevin meanwhile is adamant his daughter won’t follow him into the dance world, arguing ‘it’s too competitive.’

Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez 

Hollyoaks star Gemma met Strictly pro Gorka when she competed on the show in 2017. They weren’t partnered up but fell for each other behind the scenes.

Two years after the show, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Mia, six, before their son Thiago was born in 2023.

Gorka has been juggling his busy career with fatherhood since, with the couple previously speaking out on the tough absences when the dancer is competing on Strictly. 

‘Gorka is a huge fan of Strictly and every year he’s buzzing with excitement about it, we all are,’ Gemma told New! magazine last year. 

‘But then, each year he also realises that he has to be away from home and wherever his [celebrity] partner is based, he has to go to them.’

‘Before we had children it wasn’t an issue, but when you have kids, your perspective changes. Mia will ask, ‘But why do you have to go, Papa? ‘ and I think it makes him feel guilty.’

This year will be a welcome change for Gorka and his family though as the dancer will not have a celebrity partner due to his work as a judge on the Spanish version Bailando Con Las Estrellas. 

His three weeks of judging commitments in the middle of the Strictly series means he will instead be one of the ensemble dancers.

Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev 

Countdown star Rachel and Strictly pro Pasha met when they were paired together on the show in 2013. 

Rachel ended her 16-month marriage to ex-husband James Gilbert weeks after she was eliminated from the series, with the split cited as another example of the ‘Strictly curse’. Rachel and Pasha went public with their romance the following year.

They tied the knot in secret in Las Vegas in 2019 whilst Rachel was pregnant with their first daughter in 2019.

‘So, we were never bothered about getting married, but then we just were like “shall we just get married” once were were having the baby,’ Rachel previously told the Express.

‘And actually, we had such a nice day. It was really lovely. But we only decided the week before.’

They went on to welcome daughter Maven in December 2019 and their second daughter Noa in November 2021. 

Pasha quit Strictly in 2018 and now focuses much of his time on fatherhood whilst Rachel continues in her role on Countdown. 

Janette Manrara and Aljaz Škorjanec  

Janette and Aljaz are perhaps the biggest success story of Strictly having both joined the series in 2013 three years after meeting in stage show rehearsals.

They went onto marry in 2017 and both continued on Strictly until Janette decided to step down as a dancer in 2021 to pursue her dream of a presenting role on the show’s spin off It Takes Two.

Two years later, the couple welcomed their first child together, daughter Lyra. 

Aljaz announced that he had quit Strictly in 2022, allowing him to take on the primary parent role as Janette’s career soared.

Janette returned to work for the 2023 series of It Takes Two just three months after giving birth, but the couple explained how Aljaz’s decision to step away from the show allowed them to juggle family life. 

‘Both of us have always dreamed of being hands-on parents, but I’ve always dreamed of being there fully, so we put the cards on the table and made the decision,’ Aljaz explained to OK! Magazine at the time.

‘Every parent, every relationship, every dynamic is completely different. But for us, this one was the one that made the most sense… I absolutely love being at home with Lyra, and I never feel like I’m missing out on anything.’

In 2024 though Aljaz was back, making a surprise return to the Strictly dancefloor. 

Ola and James Jordan  

After a 20 year love story, Strictly pros Ola and James Jordan welcomed their daughter Ella in February 2020 after a round of IVF.

The couple, who married in 2003, announced they were expecting their first child in September 2019 after a painful three-year battle with infertility. 

James and Polish-born beauty Ola first met at a dance competition in Blackpool in 1999 and married four years later.

They were initially dance partners before their professional relationship developed into romance, James proposed two years later and the couple tied the knot in October 2003.

The pair shot to fame as Strictly’s power couple when they both joined in series four back in 2006.

James bowed out of the show after season 11 in 2013, while Ola left at the end of series 13 in 2015.

Gushing about parenthood when Ella was a baby, Ola said: ‘We had a lovely life, but this is making us feel so much happier than anything else we have done. Nothing in our careers measures up to this. It feels perfect.’

Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff 

Former Strictly star Kristina famously waltzed into retired rugby player Ben’s heart after he competed on the show in 2013.

Their relationship wasn’t without controversy as Ben’s ex-wife Abby Cohen, the mother of his twin daughters, accused Kristina of splitting them up – something she has long denied.

Three years after the dramatic start to their romance, Kristina and Ben welcomed their daughter Milena, now nine. 

Russian-born Kristina, who has been a favourite pro on the show since 2008, had stepped down from Strictly in 2015, a year before welcoming her first child. 

The couple got engaged on a sun-kissed beach in the Maldives in 2022 and told of their hopes of tying the knot in Tuscany or Oxfordshire. 

But earlier this year their shock split was revealed, with the break up said to have been the results of ‘severe financial difficulties.’ 

Former rugby star Cohen, 46, and former professional dancer Rihanoff, 47, poured everything they had into a yoga studios and fitness business and were severely impacted by Covid which led to both financial issues and problems in their relationship. 

Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova 

Another long-time Strictly couple, Darren and Lilia both joined the show for series two way back in 2004.

Yorkshire-born Darren and Russian pro Lilia are the most successful male and female professionals in the history of the BBC show, having starred in six series and winning seven trophies between them.

They both departed the show in 2009 amd a dancer shakeup but have gone on to work on spin-off shows across the globe, with Lilia holding the head judge role on the Turkish version and Darren judging the Lebanese show.

More recently the couple have taken on the roles of creative director and choreographers on Dancing with the Stars Ireland.

Romantically, the couple have been together for over 20 years, having met as dance partners in 1997.

They are now parents to daughter Valentina, ten and a younger girl Lucia Elizabeth, born in September 2020.

At the time of their second pregnancy, Lilia and Darren revealed it was ‘a very long journey’ for them to become pregnant again.