Strictly Come Dancing star Neil Jones and his fiancée, model and former Love Island contestant Chyna Mills, are dancing on air as they exclusively share with HELLO! their exciting news: the couple, who are preparing for parenthood this autumn, are expecting a baby girl.
Neil was on stage at the London Palladium during the Strictly Come Dancing: The Professionals tour, when he and Chyna were joined by his co-stars - Dianne Buswell, Gorka Marquez, Vito Coppola, Carlo Gu, Karen Hauer, Nikita Kuzmin, Luba Mushtuk, Nancy Xu and Jowita Przystal – as he cut into a special gender reveal cake. And when he lifted a slice to reveal pink sponge inside, there were cries of “It’s a girl!”
Watch Neil Jones and Chyna Mills' special announcement below...
“They were as thrilled as us,” says Neil, 41, who with Chyna exclusively announced their pregnancy news and surprise engagement in HELLO! in April. “They’d been trying to guess if we were expecting a girl or a boy, and for the HELLO! photoshoot the girls wore pink or blue eyeshadow, depending on what they thought. Dianne was like, ‘Your daughter will have so many (Strictly) aunties now!’ Chyna and I are so happy and I can’t wait to be a dad.”
Cradling her bump, Chyna, 24, who began dating Neil last summer after she caught his eye on Love Island, says they both had an inkling they were expecting a baby girl. “I had horrendous morning sickness, which my mum – who’s had four girls – tells me is a sign. My cravings have been for sweet food, too. Krispy Kreme donuts are my downfall.”
Meanwhile Neil is convinced the baby is a mini version of her mum. “During a scan the nurse tried to get the baby to turn,” he says. “When she wouldn’t, the nurse joked, ‘This one’s quite stubborn,’ and I thought, ‘That’s like Chyna.’ The baby even lies with her arms above her head and with her legs crossed – just like her mum. Her legs are really long, so she could be a model, too.”
“I think she’s going to be a dancer, like her dad,” China tells us. “Whenever we play music or I watch Neil perform, she moves as if she’s trying to dance. I feel she and I know everything about each other, and I talk to her all the time.” With 17 weeks to go before the birth, protective daddy-to-be Neil tells us: “My outlook on life has changed. It’s not just about me anymore – I need to take care of two people.”
The Strictly dads have been offering him advice on fatherhood, too. “Gorka (Marquez) tells me how great it is,” says Neil of his co-star, who has a four-year-old daughter Mia with fiancée Gemma Atkinson, and is about to welcome a baby boy. “People also keep warning me I won’t get any sleep. As a dancer I’m used to that!”
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