Entertainment

Stacey Dooley & Kevin Clifton Are Expecting Their First Child Together

The Strictly champions have been dating since early 2019.

by Lollie King and Sam Ramsden
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton are expecting their first child together.
David M. Benett/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

The BBC’s annual ballroom competition Strictly Come Dancing has become well known for its behind-the-scenes romances (and the dreaded Strictly curse). Crowned Strictly champions in 2018, Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton announced they were dating soon after the series ended. Now, Dooley has announced that she and Clifton are expecting their first child together.

We are having a baby,” the TV presenter wrote on Instagram, alongside a photograph of her baby bump. “So bloody delighted. Kev, you're magic. I love you,” she added, joking that it was “becoming impossible to hide and if one more person asks me if I've had my t*** done in LA, I'm gonna scream.”

Dooley has been flooded with sweet messages on social media, including from Clifton, who simply commented, “Love you.” Elsewhere, Strictly dancer Dianne Buswell wrote, “OMG. So exciting, congratulations.” And judge Motsi Mabuse commented: “So, so happy for you. Congratulations.”

As per Metro, the couple first began dating in 2019 after Dooley split from her ex-boyfriend, Sam Tucknott. Rumours of a romance between the Strictly partners began soon after the breakdown of Dooley's relationship with her ex — especially after Tucknott referred to Clifton as a "rat" in an interview with The Sun.

The couple has, for the most part, kept details of their relationship out of the spotlight ever since. “Kev and I have agreed not to go into too much detail about our private lives because you can’t really indulge that and then ask for privacy,” Dooley explained to the Guardian back in 2019. “That's why we've turned down interviews that have offered us tens of thousands of pounds.”

As for marriage, Dooley previously revealed in her W series, Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, that she has little intention of walking down the aisle with Clifton. “Kev and I have been together for two years. I don’t think I want to get married,” Dooley disclosed on the show. “I think I’d be more interested in starting a family than getting married.”

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