Kevin Clifton has publicly praised his girlfriend Stacey Dooley after she was named in the Radio Times Top 100 for 2019. The Strictly star shared a post on Instagram showing Stacey's inclusion in the list, which he captioned: "No. 6 in the @radiotimes top 100," along with a smiley face. The post shows a close-up snapshot of Stacey, along with a description of her achievements, penned by Tim Glanfield, the editorial director of radiotimes.com. It reads: "Stacey's star rose to new heights on prime time TV as she held aloft the Strictly Come Dancing glitter ball in December last year. But since then her career has gone from strength to strength with hard-hitting documentaries on the BBC and her own investigative series on W. Add to that entertainment formats and regular presenting gigs, and you have a year that has demonstrated the versatility of Stacey as a journalist, presenter and broadcaster."
Kevin Clifton shared his pride at girlfriend Stacey's achievement
Among those to congratulate Stacey on her achievement was Kevin's sister Joanne Clifton, who commented, "Booooom" along with a love heart, while Katie Piper shared a series of clapping hands emojis. Stacey herself also acknowledged Kevin's sweet message, posting a love heart in the comments section.
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Stacey's busy work schedule, combined with Kevin's dance commitments, means the couple haven't been able to spend much time together in recent weeks. Stacey has been away from the UK since October, having been filming in South Korea and Madrid, before making a very brief stop-over in the UK. The star had one day free between flying back from Spain and jetting off to America, and spent it in Blackpool, where she watched Kevin and the rest of the Strictly pros perform in the famous ballroom.
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The couple first met on the 2018 series of Strictly
Stacey, 32, and Kevin, 37, are one of three couples who got together after appearing on the 2018 series of Strictly. While their chemistry was evident during the show, their relationship wasn't confirmed until the following year, after Stacey's ex-boyfriend Sam Tucknott gave a series of tell-all interviews to the press. The couple have kept their romance low-key ever since although they have been seen out in public together on a number of occasions.
In May, they took their relationship to the next level by stepping out hand-in-hand during a low-key outing in London. Kevin then spoke about Stacey during an interview on This Morning in July after being quizzed about their relationship by host Ruth Langsford. Trying to remain coy about their romance, Kevin said: "Yes, yes all good! All good." He then joked: "Look at this, straight into the personal life!" Ruth replied: "You're smiling, that's all I need to know." He then repeated that their new relationship was "all good".