Strictly’s Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington have had quite the journey already. Here they open up about their special bond, Kai’s bromance’ with Vicky’s hubby and her big plans for next year
We’ve watched Vicky Pattison go from a self-confessed nervous wreck to offering up some fabulously assured dance routines on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. And her pro partner Kai Widdrington – the caring, perfectly measured match to Vicky’s sparky energy – tells us he truly believes she “has the tools to go all the way”.
He clearly feels like he’s won already as he calls warm, straight-talking Vicky “the beating heart of the celeb group this year” during their glamorous OK! shoot.
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It’s already been quite a journey. Vicky, 37, who married businessman Ercan Ramadan last August, has battled severe anxiety since stepping out onto the fabled dance floor. But she happily tells us she’s “turning a corner” – and she hopes she’ll inspire others to be a bit braver.
She admits with a giggle that she could have been doing something very different with her Saturday nights this year (clue: it involves nappy changes). “At the start of this year, I said to Ercan, I’m either gonna do Strictly , a second series of Honesty Box or we’re going to have a baby. When I got the call for Strictly he was over the moon,” she laughs.
While readily admitting they’ve had less quality time together since she joined the Strictly juggernaut, seeing how caring he’s been while she juggles it all, has convinced Vicky he’ll make an amazing dad.
“So yes, kids are definitely on the cards next year. I think he’s looking forward to it now. He probably thinks I’ll be at home a bit more, which he’s thrilled about,” she says.
She recently admitted that Sundays at home with hubby are “sacred” to her right now. So how is she coping being away from Ercan and their two beloved pooches? “Going home to Ercan and the dogs, I’m so grateful for that,” she says. “I can snap out of whatever steps are flying around in my head and be with my family. I need that moment.”
Ercan recently flew to see his family in Cyprus for a week – the only time he’s missed seeing her perform live – and his absence hit her hard. “I told him to go. I said, ‘All I’m doing is coming home and whining that I’m tired, then I go to bed.’ But the minute he left, I realised how much I missed him and needed him. He’s my anchor and he spoils me rotten.
“He wakes me up every morning with my electrolytes, my collagen, ready to go to Strictly school. He texts about what I want for dinner and he’s being the best dog dad. There’s a real sense of role reversal, in the traditional sense, right now. It’s progressive and it takes a special man to do that.”
Southampton-born Kai, who started dancing at the age of nine, the same year Strictly first aired on telly, has struck up a lovely bond with Vicky’s other half, too. Apparently they spend most of their time talking about football, alongside Ercan’s lookalike brother. “Kai and Ercan have a little bromance going,” Vicky tells us. “He’s gone down a storm with my family and friends and I love his gorgeous girlfriend Chloe.”
They even talked about going on a double date – before realising it would be nigh on impossible with a brand new dance to learn every week. “We were so full of it at the start of this process,” Vicky admits. “A double-date, what?! Nobody’s got time for that!”
Kai admits he had zero preconceptions about former Heart Radio presenter Vicky before they met, other than knowing she was a total novice at dancing. He is visibly delighted by how much she’s progressed. “If I’d shown her what she’s achieved in our most recent dances, she wouldn’t have believed it. But why stop now? We might as well go the whole way,” he says confidently.
Vicky agrees, saying it’s “mindblowing” when she recalls how she struggled to even clap on time during the first group dance. Since then, she’s performed a beautiful American Smooth, the Couple’s Choice dance to Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love and even the notoriously tricky samba.
“Oh man, the samba. If you’d told me seven weeks ago I’d love that dance, I’d have called you a liar. Yet here I am. A big, samba-loving Geordie,” she laughs.
The fact that Cheryl – who she’s idolised since she was a teenager – sent her a personal message of support is something she’s still coming to terms with. “That was one of the best moments of my life. I might only top it when I have my first kid,” she says.
Vicky remembers Cheryl once walking into the clothes shop where she used to work on Saturdays in Newcastle. “She came in with a little black top and a baseball cap on, the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and dead polite. She said, ‘Have you got this in an extra small?’ and we ran away looking for it. But the minute she left, we lost our minds! I met her after I did the jungle too – she’s so sweet and humble.”
Throughout our chat, it’s clear what a lovely synergy Vicky and Kai have. “He sussed out early doors how to get the best out of me,” she says. “I’ll work hard, but I need my little breaks, a bit of craic. Outside of this incredible experience I’m just a human being, trying my best.”
She hopes the two of them will be friends for life. “Kai’s got really good previous, to be fair. He just went to Angela Rippon ’s 81st birthday. Maybe he’ll be at my 81st birthday party too. I don’t feel like it’s far off, the way my body’s feeling at the minute,” she jokes.
And Kai, who’s been a pro on the show for five years, explains that after two months of dancing together he knows what makes Vicky tick. “I know what to say, what not to say, when to give her space. And unlike her, I’m never worried. She always pulls it out of the bag.”
She’s certainly come a long way since the start of her Strictly journey. Despite being a mega-fan whose dream for years was to do the show one day, even she was shocked by how crippling her anxiety was ahead of her first performance.
“It was such a huge step out of my comfort zone. That’s a very scary place to be,” she admits. “I’m an open book, so I don’t regret being so transparent about how tough it was. But I was really shocked at how all-consuming it was at first. I’d be visibly shaking and… yeah, there were a lot of tears.”
She admits to being a “nervous girlie” and says her anxiety is getting worse the older she gets. “When you’re younger, you’re completely fearless. I’m definitely not any more. I’m afraid of almost everything.”
But she’s ready to change the narrative, she says. “Maybe watching me do this, though I’m really scared, will give people faith that they can do amazing things if they go outside their comfort zone, you know?
“And Kai does this lovely thing – he turns to me before we go out on the dance floor and says, ‘We’re just dancing. Just me and you – just dance with me.’ It’s so powerful and so lovely. The outside noise just drifts away.”
Kai has never seen anyone quite like Vicky when it comes to sharing the other celebs’ triumphs.
He says, “Sometimes, watching the others, you’re aware it’s a competition and seeing a couple smash a dance, you’re happy but there might be mixed feelings. I’ve never seen someone as genuinely happy for others doing well as Vicky. Every other celeb this year would say that, I think. But she’s so good at making other people feel better, she sometimes forgets about herself.”
Vicky admits the other celebrities already feel like family, and says each elimination is “a heartache”. “We’ve all got a special bond, but my favourite people are George [Clarke], Bavinder [Sopal] and La Voix. I really miss Chris Robshaw, he was like my big brother. Lewis [Cope] is a lovely lad, and I love his girlfriend. And Caz [Karen Carney] is always checking in.”
Vicky also credits her bestie Pete Wicks for being her rock. Pete reached the semi-final of Strictly last year with Jowita Przystal. “He’s been my biggest cheerleader,” Vicky says. “He’s been to see us twice and he calls me every show day to check in.”
Vicky and Kai’s series is already proving to be a historic one, as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman made the bombshell announcement that this will be their last outing as hosts. How do they feel about it?
“The pair of them have done so much for women in television,” Vicky says. “ Strictly will continue to be this sparkly piece of TV that brings joy to millions, but it is the end of an era. They deserve a chance to enjoy their Saturday nights though.”
Her own stint on Strictly is far from over, but taking part makes Vicky feel like the sky’s the limit. “Every time I do something, whether it’s eating kangaroo balls in the jungle or being thrown out of a helicopter on Celeb SAS , I’m scared,” she says. “But coming out the other side, you feel incredible. If I can dance on Strictly , there’s nothing I can’t do.”
Strictly Come Dancing continues on ITV on Saturday at 6.25pm
Source: Mirror
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