Lewis Cope has become the first Strictly Come Dancing 2025 star to land a 10 – but the person I’m most happy for is his professional partner Katya Jones.
It’s fair to say the Russian dancer hasn’t always had it easy on the programme. Jones – together with then-husband Neil – made her debut as a Strictly professional in 2016. While her other half was immediately placed on the subs bench, Jones found herself catapulted into the spotlight when she was paired with Ed Balls.
What the Labour politician lacked in dance ability, he more than compensated for in commitment – and it was Jones who brought him out of his shell, choreographing routines including their legendary “Gangnam Style” performance.
The following year, Jones was paired with Joe McFadden and the duo embarked on an extraordinary Strictly journey that saw the Holby City actor go from lesser-known outsider to lifting the Glitterball trophy.
It was in 2018 that things started to fall apart, though. A promising start with comedian Seann Walsh ultimately ended in controversy when she and Walsh were caught kissing outside a London pub (on Walsh’s then-girlfriend’s birthday, no less). Their promising Strictly story was hastily rewritten after the controversy and they limped out of the competition just a few weeks later.
In the years that followed, it certainly seemed as though Jones was being paired with celebs who didn’t stand a chance of winning or suffered bad luck – or both. In the 2020 run, she was one half of the show’s first ever same-sex couple, dancing with Nicola Adams. Unfortunately, they were forced to withdraw early when the boxer contracted Covid-19.
The bad fortune continued in 2022 and 2023, when Jones’s celebrity partners Nigel Harman and Tony Adams were forced to pull out due to injuries. Last year, there was the infamous Wynne-gate, which ultimately cast a cloud over not just Jones and Wynne Evans’s stint on the programme but the whole series itself.
Through it all, Jones has proven herself to be one of the best choreographers Strictly has to offer, capable of transforming non-dancers into something special. It’s easily forgotten but the Walsh drama came just after a truly mind-blowing Matrix-themed routine. And years later, when Jones had drummed some steps into Tony Adams, the judges labelled him “unrecognisable”.
Fast forward then to the current run, which on Saturday night saw Lewis Cope become the first Class of 2025 star to land a 10 thanks to a drama-filled Paso Doble. The performance cemented the Emmerdale actor as one of the stars to beat this year – and for me, raised an important question: could Katya Jones finally have another shot at winning?
In Cope, Jones (at last) has a partner who could go all the way. The 30-year-old has some previous dance training, having appeared in the West End production of Billy Elliot as a child, but not so much experience that fans are fixated on it (as they are with fellow frontrunner Amber Davies). There are no signs of nerves and his acting skills are shining through in his routines – just watch last week’s romantic Viennese Waltz. He’s athletic and physically fit, capable of taking on whatever ambitious moves Jones throws at him.
For the professional dancer, this partnership must be a dream. And if you ask me, it’s long overdue.
