Strictly's Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington 'split after 2 blissful years together'

'Strictly Come Dancing' stars Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington have split up after two years of dating.

The professional dancers became an item in 2022, but after two "blissful" years together the former couple have waltzed away from one another after they "grew apart".

A friend told The Sun newspaper: "It’s heart-breaking.

"Kai and Nadiya seemed like the most perfect couple and have been so, so blissfully in love."

Despite their break up, the pair are said to still be "incredibly close" and will not let their split have "any impact" on this year's 'Strictly' series.

The friend added: "After a tough few weeks, they sat down together and decided to call it quits.

"They remain incredibly close and are determined their split will not have any impact on the next series of 'Strictly' - they remain consummate professionals, and nothing will change that."

Last year, Kai, 27, told how he found Nadiya, 33, "drop-dead gorgeous".

He told the publication at the time: "I think I speak for most of the men in Britain when I say that they would find Nadiya absolutely drop-dead gorgeous - and I still have to pinch myself sometimes."

Kai also admitted he and Nadiya tried to keep their romance a secret for as long as possible, but they let 'Strictly' bosses know about their relationship "as a professional courtesy".

He explained: "We knew that it would come out and that it would be a big thing, so we kept it private for as long as we could, which was both annoying and exciting at the same time.

"It was one of those things. We would go somewhere and only we knew we were there.

"Sometimes we would go out in disguise, or baseball caps pulled down low, etc, and we knew this period of time was only going to last a little bit

"We did let our bosses know as a professional courtesy, that was our decision."

Earlier this year, 'Strictly' confirmed their pro dancer line up for this year, which included both Nadiya and Kai.

At the time, it also included Graziano Di Prima, who has since been axed from the show amid reports of alleged misconduct relating to how he treated his 2023 dance partner Zara McDermott.