Kevin Clifton is a commitment-phobe who is unable to hold down a long-term romance, a relationship expert has claimed.
April Masini who writes books and advice columns about love and dating, is warning Stacey Dooley to treat carefully as her fling with Kevin heats up.
"This relationship has inherent long-term obstacles," she warns the Strictly Come Dancing winners.
"Because Kevin has had three marriages and two divorces by the age of 36, it's pretty apparent that he is someone with commitment issues. He falls in love hard and fast, and unravels relationships quickly. He is someone who is very fluid with relationships."
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April went on to Mirror Online: "I think that he and Stacey are in love and that’s what they feel now. But, because he seems to be more committed to fluidity than to long-term loyalty, they should both enjoy the moment (there's another one coming every sixty seconds)."
Kevin, she says, lacks the maturity to cultivate a long-term relationship and flouts convention because it's easier to live in the moment.
"Long-term relationships don't just happen because of feelings for each other. They happen because both people in the relationship value commitment. They both want a long-term relationship," April explains.
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"It's pretty clear that Kevin doesn't have this facet in his relationship wheelhouse. But, the problem comes when he is with partners who ignore or overlook his track record, who he is, or worse - they feel like they can be the ones to 'fix' him."
As for Stacey's doomed relationship with ex Sam Tucknott - who confronted Kevin after finding incriminating texts on Stacey's phone - April believes the couple were treading water for a long time with neither of them having the courage to end it.
"Lots of times people stay in relationships because they feel stuck," she points out.
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"They feel that it is easier to stay put in a mediocre relationship, than it is to break up, be single and risk what may or may not come next. I believe Sam when he says that Stacey checked out of the relationship in December, but didn't end things until March. It’s tough to end a five-year relationship, and sometimes this is how they end.
"Would it have been easier for everyone if Stacey broke up with Sam back in December? Sure. Is it cruel that she did not? No. It’s human. Either she was too relationship-lazy to end things and be single so she could meet someone new from a single perspective, or she didn't have the relationship tools (maturity) to end things earlier, or perhaps she was hoping that things with Sam would get better, and she'd feel a spark between them - and was waiting for something to change.
"Whether it was one of these three things or not, she's human, her behaviour was normal, and these are adults."
