Kai Widdrington has had a busy week, having taken to the Strictly dance floor during Saturday’s final before immediately moving on to his next role upon the conclusion of the series.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Kai Widdrington has been seen teaming up with a new partner following his stint on everyone’s favourite dance competition this year.
The pro dancer made waves during the grand finale of the BBC One dance competition this past weekend, where he dazzled audiences as part of the 2024 cast with one final exuberant performance.
He also joined forces with singer-songwriter Raye for a special performance of Oscar Winning Tears.
But as soon as the final wrapped up, Kai was quick to dive into his new role, having previously revealed his plans to join the pantomime scene this holiday season.
He’s all set to embody Captain Hook at Liverpool’s The Auditorium at the M&S Bank Arena, sharing the stage with ex-Corrie star Kimberly Hart-Simpson, who will be sprinkling her magic as Tinkerbell in their rendition of Peter Pan.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Kai Widdrington and Kimberly Hart-Simpson (
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(Image: Kai Widdrington Instagram))
Earlier on, Kai excited fans by posting the event’s poster on Instagram, which starts on Tuesday (December 17).
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In the post, he flaunts an impressive moustache and invites followers with the caption: “It’s panto season! Come see me us at the M&S arena Liverpool for Panto this Christmas – fun for the whole family – oh yes it is! ”
As he got back into rehearsal mode ahead of the opening night this week, Kai shared a snap of his script inside the auditorium, calling it: “My new office for the rest of 2024.”
He also re-posted a picture with Kimberly, who played Nicky Wheatley on ITV’s Corrie, originally captioned by her: “@kaiwidd Panto week,” to which he responded: “Here we go! ! “, as reported by Manchester Evening News.
Kai recently hit the headlines as he broke a world record on the Strictly 2024 Pro Challenge, showcased on the spin-off show It Takes Two.
The yearly competition sees the Strictly professionals trying to perform as many repetitions of a specific dance step in 30 seconds, with the winner setting a new record.
Coronation Street actress Kimberly Hart-Simpson portrayed Nicky Wheatley in the ITV drama. (
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ITV)
This year’s challenge had the talented dancers performing a Time Step from the cha-cha-cha, under the watchful gaze of judge Craig Revel Horwood and adjudicator Will Munford, who were in charge of counting and verifying each attempt.
The final results were revealed by host Janette Manrara, who invited Kai and fellow Strictly pro Neil Jones into the studio.
They were given the task of beating the previous record of 14 steps, set by Nadiya Bychkova.
After their attempts were shown, it was disclosed that both male pros had achieved 15 Time Steps in 30 seconds. However, one of them had a disqualification, leaving a clear winner for this year’s record.
Janette then declared that Kai had clinched the top spot on the leaderboard after one of Neil’s steps was disqualified, pushing him down to second place for the third consecutive year. “It feels good. I might retire early because I feel it doesn’t get much better than that,” an ecstatic Kai said after his win.
“I’m gutted [for all my fellow professionals]. I feel so bad, but I’m very happy. Thank you Mum and Dad, all my family. Thank you for everything.”
