{"id":161998,"date":"2025-09-26T17:57:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/161998\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T17:57:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:57:13","slug":"strictly-pro-nikita-kuzmin-responds-after-celebrity-partner-dani-dyer-quits-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/161998\/","title":{"rendered":"Strictly pro Nikita Kuzmin responds after celebrity partner Dani Dyer quits series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 jEZjIj\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/strictly-come-dancing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/nikita-kuzmin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nikita Kuzmin<\/a> has reacted to the news that his celebrity partner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/dani-dyer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dani Dyer<\/a> has quit the show.<\/p>\n<p>The former Love Island winner <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/dani-dyer-strictly-come-dancing-2025-quit-b2832541.html\">quit the series<\/a> on Tuesday (23 September) after fracturing her ankle in rehearsals.<\/p>\n<p>Kuzmin said Dyer\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-come-dancing-dani-dyer-breaks-silence-b2832752.html\">departure from the series<\/a> had broken his heart, writing on Instagram: \u201cSo so gutted to have finished our journey before it even properly started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u201cThe amount of laughs and fun we had in this short time was unbelievable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReally loved our partnership and hope that one day we can actually get to week one lol but, health is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that he hoped they could participate on the show together next year instead, and called Dyer a wonderful human being: \u201cIt breaks my heart knowing how excited you were to do your absolute best on the show!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758909433_924_newFile.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin in \u2018Strictly\u2019 rehearsals\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin in \u2018Strictly\u2019 rehearsals (Instagram)<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the departure, Dyer said she hadn\u2019t felt this devastated in such a long time, adding: \u201cI was having the best time ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reality TV star received<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-come-dancing-dani-dyer-injury-nikita-b2832577.html\"> support from her fellow competitors<\/a>, including Vicky Pattinson and Thomas Skinner.<\/p>\n<p>Amber Davies, who also won Love Island, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-2025-amber-davies-dani-dyer-replacement-b2834219.html\">will replace Dyer<\/a>, whose injury occurred in rehearsals last week. \u201cI thought I had rolled my foot but it swelled up badly over the weekend and after an MRI scan yesterday, it turns out I have fractured my ankle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently doing the quickstep on a fracture is not advisable, and the doctors have said I am not allowed to dance, so I\u2019ve had to pull out of the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo say I\u2019m heartbroken is the biggest understatement. I am so going to miss dancing with Nikita but will of course be watching closely and cheering all the couples on.\u201d She also said she would miss dancing with Kuzmin.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-25-at-08.17.37.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Nikita Kuzmin responds after Dani Dyer quits \u2018Strictly\u2019\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Nikita Kuzmin responds after Dani Dyer quits \u2018Strictly\u2019 (Instagram)<\/p>\n<p>Dyer is not the first star to quit this year\u2019s show. Last month, Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-games-of-thrones-kristian-nairn-medical-reasons-b2812254.html\">forced to withdraw on medical grounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He was replaced by Emmerdale star Lewis Cope, who has <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-2025-lewis-cope-replace-b2830674.html\">become a swift favourite<\/a> after his debut in last weekend\u2019s launch show.<\/p>\n<p>Strictly\u2019s live shows kick off on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-161998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}