The ‘curse of Strictly’ — i.e. the predetermined and spookily consistent event in which a happily married or at least coupled-up celebrity gets off with their Strictly co-dancer — has struck again, with rugby ace Ben Cohen splitting from his wife of 11 years.
And the split was announced — DUN DUN DUH — just days after he was spotted out on the town with his dance partner of last year, Russian dancer Kristina Rihanoff. Hear that distant cackling? That’s the curse of Strictly, at it again.
As The Sun reports, Rugby World Cup winner Ben and his wife Abby were married in 2003, and have two daughters — Harriett and Isabelle. A spokesperson for the couple told the paper the pair were dealing with some “marital issues” and that a third party was “not involved”.
Last year, Countdown’s Rachel Riley split with her husband after being on the show, as did Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid. Which sort of begs the question, celebrities: with the curse of* Strictly* being so empirically real, why do you keep signing up to do Strictly Come Dancing*?*