Dominic Cotton, a newly unattached former BBC sports journalist, has joined a lonely-hearts dating service, in which he lists his best feature as “my bum”. This may come as some surprise to his glamorous ex-partner,Strictly Come Dancing star Susanna Reid, who, just a few months ago, enthused over how supportive and understanding he was and declared that they were “very, very happy” together.
The couple’s split, after 12 years and three children, has stirred talk of the “Curse of Strictly”, a nightmarish malediction that condemns the show’s beaming, bespangled participants to relationship failure. The toll down the years has been cruel: Countdown beauty Rachel Riley left her husband; newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky broke up with her long-time boyfriend; Denise van Outen’s marriage collapsed; and while boxer Joe Calzaghe fell for his dancing partner Kristina Rihanoff, their love didn’t last.
