Despite only having ever been paired with one celebrity partner on Strictly Come Dancing, pro dancer Neil Jones is a firm fan favourite.
He started dancing at the tender age of three and signed on as a Strictly pro back in 2016.
His big break came in 2019, though, when Neil was partnered with ex-England footballer Alex Scott.
The pair finished fifth, but Neil was demoted back to the subs’ bench in 2020 and wasn’t paired with a celebrity.
Will Neil Jones have a celebrity partner on Strictly Come Dancing this year?
The man himself has said that he doesn’t know yet, but if he ends up just doing the group dances again, “it doesn’t matter”.
Neil said: “We don’t know yet and it’d be nice, you know, either way, they know me, because I love working with the show.
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“It’s one of these things. I always want to keep working with the show, as long as I enjoy it. So whether I have a partner or don’t have a partner, it doesn’t matter,” he added.
Neil explained that once producers have booked the celebrities, they start looking at the pros.
“Because they’ve got such a big variety of pros there now they can kind of say: ‘Okay, this pro will work with this celebrity, height-wise, age wise.’ So I leave it down to them.”
He does have his eye on one particular celebrity partner though, although it’s fair to say Neil could be aiming a bit high…
Opening up on his dream celebrity partner, Neil told the Express: “Meghan Markle, because I could be like Prince Harry.
“She seems fun. So yeah, that’d be good,” he added.
Why did Neil and wife Katya Jones split?
Neil and Katya tied the knot back in August 2013 after five years of dating.
However, in October 2018, a video and photos of Katya kissing her celebrity parter Seann Walsh emerged.
Speaking about the kiss, Neil admitted: “It was a shock. For me it was a major shock.
And I appreciate that Katya told me, so I found out from Katya before I saw it in the news.
“Strictly, they were fantastic with me, with us all. They supported us all and they were helping us.
“It was that shock factor, and for me it was just straight away I was more worried for Katya, because I could see what was going to happen.
“I knew how strong everything was on the show and I was just like, as long as she’s going to be alright.”
However, less than a year later, the couple announced their break up – although she has said she has no regrets, and he doesn’t blame the kiss with Walsh.
Katya said: “There aren’t any regrets because that’s not how I like to lead my life.
“Of course certain things made it hell, all the attention – and I think for two weeks Brexit was forgotten!
“I’m happy to talk about it now – it doesn’t affect me, it doesn’t affect who I am.”
Neil also revealed the real reason for their split.
He said: “We found that we’d grown apart like people do, so we were like: ‘Okay, let’s go our separate ways.’ We are lucky that we don’t have kids.
“It had nothing to do with what happened [with Seann]. We were moving in different directions but we are friends again now. Katya is a great girl and I’ve got nothing bad to say about her.”
Does Neil have a girlfriend now?
Neil is currently single, although he’s admitted that he isn’t quite ready to mingle.
Speaking on a podcast recently, he said that he’s focusing on himself.
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The declaration came after his split from Colombian dancer Luisa Eusse.
Neil confirmed they were dating in August 2020, however, Luisa revealed he was single at a party that breached COVID rules in December of the same year.
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