Strictly Come Dancing professional Kai Widdrington and his tour dance partner, former 2020 finalist Maisie Smith, have shared a glimpse at their new partnership ahead of the official tour shows.
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The EastEnders actress posted a video on her Instagram Stories showing her and Kai rehearsing, with the professional holding Maisie as he gently pushed her head back. The snippet demonstrated the pair's banter and close bond, with Maisie captioning the video: "That's one way to shut me up @kaiwiddrington!"
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Maisie joined Strictly's class of 2021 tour after Kai's original dance partner, presenter AJ Odudu, suffered an ankle injury. AJ and Kai shocked Strictly fans back in December when they had to pull out of the final last minute due to the AJ's injury which has not yet healed, resulting in her dropping out of the tour which commences this week.
Luckily, AJ gave her blessing to the actress after it was announced she would be paired up with Kai. Maisie, who paired with Gorka Marquez in 2020, revealed AJ's reaction to HELLO!, explaining: "I spoke to AJ and she told me: 'Don't worry, I'm just excited that you and Kai [Widdrington] both get to perform.' That was nice and reassuring because I didn't want to step on anyone's toes."
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Maisie and Kai shared a clip of their routine on their Instagram Stories
It also gives Maisie an opportunity to perform on a Strictly tour for the first, having missed out in early 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown. "I was so gutted that we didn't get to do the tour last time, so this is my second chance!" she told HELLO!. "I'm a little bit rusty, but I'm getting there. It feels like I'm back home."
The Strictly Come Dancing tour also sees other favourites from the 2021 series take part, including John Whaite, Tilly Ramsay, Rhys Stephenson and winners Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice.
It was recently revealed that a registered British Sign Language interpreter would be at every performance, making it the "biggest ever BSL accessible area tour" in the UK.
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