Nikita Kuzmin broke down in tears after Layton Williams' Strictly performance

Nikita Kuzmin was reduced to tears by Layton Williams' 'Strictly Come Dancing' performance.

The 25-year-old professional dancer, who has been paired up with the 'Bad Education' star on the current series of the BBC's Latin and ballroom competition, has admitted he began to cry after realising how proud he was of Layton.

Appearing on Wednesday's (06.12.23) episode of spin off show 'It Takes Two', Nikita said: "To be fair he danced so well that night and became so much of a true American Latin dancer I became emotional."

Host Janette Manrara then asked the dancer if he shed a tear, and he added: "Yes. It’s just really lovely when your student is really hungry and wants to learn."

The dancing star also explained that he and Layton were incredibly proud of themselves for their performance last weekend, as they were awarded 40 points – the highest possible score.

He said: "We have been trying to push every single week and come up with something new and I’ve been pushing him and holding him to high standards and that night we said we wouldn’t think about the scores, and we weren’t actually shooting for anything.

"We were going out there to do ourselves and our families proud. The moment we let it go it came to us.

"It was special, and I loved it. He came in and wanted to learn it and I get passionate when people want to learn."

Layton had also gushed about his partner on Sunday (03.12.23) after the pair survived being in the bottom two on the BBC programme.

In an X (formally Twitter) post, the 'Everyone's Talking About Jamie' star heaped praise onto Nikita.

He wrote: "10’s across the board! Fighting back from the bottom 2 is rough but what a perfect routine for it.

"All credit has to go to the most amazing dance partner and teacher ever – Nikita Kuzmin! Think what you want about me, but give him his flowers plz."