STRICTLY’S Kai Widdrington was pictured looking very close to Love Island’s Maura Higgins after last night’s Pride of Britain Awards.

The professional dancer, who is without a celebrity partner in the current series, split from co-star Nadiya Bychkova earlier this year.

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Kai and Maura hunkered down in the five-star JW Marriott Grosvenor House after the star-studded event celebrating the nation’s unsung heroes.

Love Island legend Maura looked like a Hollywood siren with slick brunette hair, pearls around her neck and a plunging black dress, while Kai was smart as ever in a black suit.

At one point Maura tenderly tickled Kai’s face with a peach-coloured rose.

When the pair climbed to their feet, Kai held Maura’s shoulder in a position that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a sizzling ballroom routine.

Kai appeared to be in his element at the plush venue, smiling and hugging Strictly’s Dr Punam Krishnan around the same table.

Earlier in the evening, his ex Nadiya made it clear she and Kai are no longer on good terms.

She told the Mirror: “We work together but we are not friends and that’s ok. One thing I can tell you is that when you see me dancing with him it will be amazing because I’m a professional.” 

The pair had a passionate two-year romance after hitting it off on the BBC show.

But a source told us this summer: “Kai and Nadiya seemed like the most perfect couple and have been so, so blissfully in love.

“But the pressures of touring – being in each other’s space 24/7, and the stress of performing a sell-out show eventually took its toll.”

Meanwhile Maura has been linked with Towie legend Pete Wicks, who is dancing with pro Jowita Pryzstal in this year’s Strictly.

Last year Maura and Pete were pictured kissing in a London bar and they were photographed looking close recently, too.

Nadiya let her down after the tear-jerking ceremony last night by having a laugh with Gladiators man mountain, Giant.

The pair were pictured having a good chin-wag at the after-party.

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John Stapleton has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The broadcaster, 78, who is known for presenting programmes including Newsnight, Panorama and GMTV’s News Hour, made the announcement on BBC One’s Morning Live.

Parkinson’s is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Often, the disease can become more severe over time.

Speaking to his son, presenter Nick Stapleton, the broadcaster said: “Speaking is how I’ve earned my living for the best part of 50 years, and it’s very frustrating sometimes, particularly if people are constantly saying to you, sorry, what did you say? And you have to repeat yourself time and time and time again.”

He added: “I’m fairly pragmatic about the prospect of this getting worse. I try to remain positive, because what’s the point of not being [positive].”

Nick said it was “early days” of his father’s diagnosis and added that Stapleton is “still fairly independent”.

He continued: “Nonetheless, I want to start these conversations now, to get some potentially difficult topics out in the open and make it easier for later on.”

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While speaking about his diagnosis on Morning Live, Stapleton revealed his mother also had Parkinson’s and he is now experiencing similar mobility problems to her.

“The fact that I’ve had an early diagnosis, the fact that I’ve seen what happened to my mother firsthand is all a big bonus in many ways,” he said. “It enables me to look at it practically, realistically and plan sensibly for the future.”

Georgina Jones, a senior care advisor for Parkinson’s UK appeared on the programme to give Nick advice on how to speak to his father about needing care in the future as his symptoms worsen.

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“It’s trying to talk about what support someone might need rather than what care they might need; starting with what they would like and what they’re struggling with,” she said.

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“There’s all kinds of equipment that people might need in their home. And those kinds of small steps will then build up to something more major, decisions about if someone needed to sell their home, they needed to move, etc.”

Fans were quick to send their well wishes to Stapleton following his announcement. “One of the finest broadcasters in my lifetime, sad to hear this and sending best wishes,” one person wrote on X/Twitter.

“A brilliant broadcaster,” another fan added.

GIOVANNI Pernice “wanted to punch the TV” when watching Amanda Abbington discussing claims made against him, according to reports.

The Italian dancer, 34, has said he “sobbed” when he heard the actress was to appear on Channel 4 to claim her bullying allegations were ‘of a sexual nature’.

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Amanda’s interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who had competed alongside her in the 2023 series of Strictly, aired in July.

Giovanni has now broken his silence after the BBC finally cleared him of 10 of the 16 allegations the Sherlock actress had made against him.

The ex Strictly pro told Mail+: “I wanted to punch the television. I didn’t watch it, I couldn’t watch the interview because I was thinking, ‘Why would you talk on live TV when we’ve both been asked not to talk about it?’

“My Sicilian blood would rise up and I’d think, ‘This isn’t the truth’ – but I had to remain silent.”

Amanda’s interview with Krishnan aired three months in to the BBC’s £250,000 investigation, which wrapped up in September.

Giovanni said the televised chat on Channel 4 in July was the first time there had been a mention of anything “sexual”.

“Of course, I was worried it could destroy my career – the people that come to my shows are kids and women,” he added to the publication.

Giovanni was partnered with Amanda on the 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

But she departed in week six, citing medical reasons. Amanda later accused Giovanni of bullying – which he vehemently denies.

Giovanni decided to quit Strictly in May after nine years on the BBC dancing show.

It came as he faced allegations over his training methods with his former celebrity partners, including Amanda.

Last month, the BBC published the findings of its five-month investigation into the alleged scandal.

Giovanni was cleared of 10 of the 16 allegations made against him.

It did, however, find instances of the professional dancer using “belittling” language towards her, and the Beeb apologised to Amanda.

Giovanni will be appearing on ITV’s Lorraine to discuss the bullying probe and its outcome on Tuesday morning (October 22).

Strictly 2024 pairings

Here’s who is matched with who this series…

A TV source told The Sun: “Amanda has conducted a number of interviews throughout the investigation on high-profile platforms like Channel 4 News but Giovanni was not able to do so as a BBC employee.

“Now it is complete, Giovanni is able to discuss certain things but most importantly, move forward with his career.

“He will chat to Lorraine about his upcoming solo tour The Last Dance and run of new dates for his gigs with Anton Du Beke.”

Giovanni is currently taking part in Italy‘s version of Strictly Come Dancing.

He relocated to Italy as Amanda spoke out about her ordeal on Newsnight following the BBC investigation.

She claimed her nightmare rehearsals with Gio got so bad she was actually relieved when a cancer scare meant she could quit the show.

The BBC apologised to the actress as she revealed her experience with him was “morbid and toxic”.

Meanwhile, Giovanni is due to make a brief return to Strictly in a one-off special celebrating the show’s 20 years on screen.

In December’s anniversary special, he will appear in footage from 2021 dancing with EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was the first deaf winner of Strictly Come Dancing.

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Donald Trump’s latest campaign publicity stunt, which saw him working a shift in a McDonald’s, has prompted a flurry of memes comparing him to the award-winning restaurant-based TV show The Bear.

With just weeks to go until the 5 November election, where he and Kamala Harris are almost level in the polls, Trump turned up in an apparent scheme to help him appeal to the American “everyman”.

The roughly hour-long photo opp took place at a closed restaurant in the Feasterville neighbourhood of the Lower Southampton Township. A sign on the door said that the restaurant would be closed Sunday until 4 pm after the president and his entourage had left.

During the visit, Trump had an apron tied behind his back by a McDonald’s cashier before he received a short demonstration of how to work the fry station and stuck his head through the drive-thru.

Images of Trump’s shift soon went viral, with many noticing that his garments bore a striking similarity to Jeremy Allen White’s character, “Carmy”, from The Bear.

“New season of The Bear looks s***,” joked one person on X/Twitter.

Another said: “Man, The Bear Season 4 is low-energy.”

Others recreated scenes or lines of the dialogue from the show, which has just finished its third season.

One, joking about the size of Trump’s hands, wrote: “Hands! I need hands, please! Someone please get me some f***ing bigger hands!”

Meanwhile, someone else imagined what it would be like if Trump and Carmy worked together.

It came just a day after Trump shared a 12-minute anecdote about the former pro golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Speaking in Latrobe, Palmer’s birthplace, Trump told his crowd of supporters: “This is a guy that was all man. He took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it.”

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“I had to tell you the shower part because it’s true,” he added.

The bizarre quotes then led to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson getting into a very awkward exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper after the news anchor questioned why Trump was using valuable campaign time to talk about Palmer’s penis.

GIOVANNI Pernice has revealed the last words that he spoke to Amanda Abbington after their bitter fallout amid a Strictly bullying probe.

Giovanni, 34, also retaliated to a string of claims made in his first interview since the BBC released its findings.

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Sherlock star Amanda, 50, quit Strictly Come Dancing last year and later made a formal complaint about Giovanni along with three of his former dance partners.

The actress left the show during week six after finding two lumps in her breasts, and fearing she had cancer.

She since revealed their rehearsals got so bad she was relieved when the cancer scare meant that she could quit.

Giovanni has now recalled the moment Amanda told him about her health scare during their final rehearsal together.

He insisted he immediately contacted a doctor to arrange a scan, and said that was the last time that they ever spoke.

The ballroom dancer told MailOnline: “Amanda told me that she couldn’t concentrate because while she was having a shower she had found two lumps.

“I said, ‘Please tell me it’s nothing serious,’ and the first thing I did was call my doctor and tried to organise for her to have a scan right away.”

Also in the interview the Sicilian denied making sexual remarks during rehearsals, but conceded that they had “very rude banter”.

He recalled: “Amanda was a laugh, we were making each other laugh. She would say very bad things, like the c-word. She would use it.

“In actual fact, the production staff came to us and said, ‘We have noticed that you call each other that word, is it ok?’

“And she was like, ‘Oh yeah it’s fine, I call him that! It’s absolutely fine, I started it’, those were her words. And I was like, ‘Yes guys, we are fine, we are joking like this.

“She’s the person who would start the joke. She would tell a dark joke.

“That was the banter we had from the beginning, very rude banter.”

He addressed Amanda’s claim that he had said to her: “You’re a 51-year-old menopausal woman but I’d still f*** you,” which the investigation did not and find evidence of.

Giovanni said he was bewildered by Amanda’s claim, adding: “I had to ask my agent what the menopause means.”

The pro dancer realised Amanda wasn’t enjoying rehearsals after their co-star alerted him to her frustrations after just one week.

He said he was concerned she might misrepresent their time together – and so he began secretly recording their sessions, saying: “I did it to protect myself”.

After a backlash from Amanda, and other former celebrity dance partners, Giovanni was at the centre of a five-month bullying storm and escalating crisis.

The BBC last month cleared him of ten of the 16 allegations made against him by Amanda.

The Beeb also apologised to Amanda as she revealed her experience with him was “morbid and toxic”.

Amanda then conducted a number of interviews on high-profile platforms like Newsnight, Channel 4 News and The Sun.

Recalling her interviews, Giovanni said he was left constantly crying and distraught, and the claims devastated his family.

He said: “I rang my parents up crying. They are the closest people to me. They were asked if their son was a bully.

“Everyone got upset, that made me upset. There were so many tears of frustration and sadness.”

Giovanni is set speak out again on Lorraine Kelly’s daytime chat show on Tuesday morning.

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Strictly’s full scandal so far

Strictly Come Dancing’s scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what’s happened so far

16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.

17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.

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16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.

8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.

10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.

13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.

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Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”

15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.

16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.

19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.

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21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.

22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.

22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.

23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.

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23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.

23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.

“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”

24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.

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27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.

She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.

28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.

10th August: Graziano breaks his silence on his Strictly axe, saying “these vile, false allegations have ruined my life.”

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He also told of the “shocking” end to his friendship with Zara McDermott.

We also revealed that Amanda Abbington was also quizzed for a second time as Strictly execs recruited 15 new staff to monitor rehearsals.

11th August: Just as the investigation was expected to conclude, Amanda made a dramatic intervention. Giovanni was on the brink of being cleared until Amanda handed in more text messages.

24th August: Graziano Di Prima called in top lawyers to sue the BBC and to try to clear his name. He recruited big hitters Whitestone Chambers to fight his corner.

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A source said: “They’ve also looked at his BBC contract and believe there are grounds to sue.”

Meanwhile, the BBC also delayed releasing the findings of the probe into Giovanni Pernice. The Sun revealed that the results of the three-month investigation were unlikely to be announced in August.

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Jenna Fischer has opened up about the moment she shared her breast cancer diagnosis with friends, recalling that Anchorman star Christina Applegate had a “salty” response.

The 50-year-old, who played Pam Beesly on the much-loved NBC sitcom The Office, said publicly earlier this month that she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

During an appearance on Today, Fischer said she was diagnosed last October and first spoke to her husband, Lee Kirk, about the news.

One of the first friends she told was Applegate. Fischer explained: “I called her, and she answered the phone, and she said, ‘Which one is it?’ And I said, ‘It’s breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘I effing knew it.’

“She’s salty. Salty language that one. I love her for it.”

Fischer told fans on social media that she is now cancer free after receiving treatment.

“I never thought I’d be making an announcement like this but here we are. Last December, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer. After completing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation I am now cancer free,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post.

“Back in October 2023, I posted a photo of myself on Instagram preparing for my routine mammogram with a joking reminder to ‘take care of your ticking time bags’ a la Michael Scott,” Fischer shared, referencing Steve Carrell’s Office character.

“After inconclusive results on that mammogram due to dense breast tissue my doctor ordered a breast ultrasound. They found something in my left breast. A biopsy was ordered. Then, on December 1, 2023, I learned I had stage 1 triple positive breast cancer.”

“Triple positive breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer but it is also highly responsive to treatment,” Fischer added.

The Office Ladies podcast host revealed she “had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor” in January of this year and the “cancer was caught early and it hadn’t spread into my lymph nodes or throughout the rest of my body.”

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“I’m happy to say I’m feeling great,” she continued. “I lost my hair during chemotherapy but thanks to some great wigs and hats with hair (which my family affectionately called Wigats) I have been able to wait until now to reveal all that has been going on for me.

“I’m making this announcement for a few reasons,” Fisher explained. “One, I’m ready to ditch the wigs. Two, to implore you to get your annual mammograms. You can also ask your doctor to calculate your Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score and get any additional screenings required. I’m serious, call your doctors right now.

“If I had waited six months longer, things could have been much worse,” she said. “It could have spread. Seeing women post photos of their mammogram appointments on Instagram needled me into setting my own (which I was late for). I’m so glad I did. Consider this your kick in the butt to get it done…. Suddenly everything in your life is geared around one thing: fighting cancer.”