The EastEnders star was paired with professional dancer Julian Caillon during the BBC dance show’s 2025 series
Balvinder Sopal has jokingly told Julian Caillon that their Strictly Come Dancing exit before the final was his ‘fault’ as he made a confession.
Julian relocated from Australia to the UK to join the BBC dance show’s professional line-up for the first time this year, making his debut alongside fellow newcomer, American dancer Alexis Warr.
It was during the 2025 series launch show that Julian was revealed to have been given a partner for his first year, teaming up with EastEnders star Balvinder, who fans of the BBC One soap best know for playing Walford’s Suki Panesar-Unwin.
The pair had quite the journey in the dance competition, with the pair breaking a record after surviving the most dance-offs, having landed in the dreaded position five times, before their sixth during the semi-final sealed their exit from the popular programme, causing them to miss out on a place in the final.
At the time of leaving the show, Balvinder told host Tess Daly: “I’ve absolutely adored every single minute. All the dance-offs, all the challenges, but just more than anything, just being in this building and dancing on this floor with such an amazing human being. It was my Yes Year, and I said yes to Strictly. My family, we’ve had some hard times, but they’ve been here.”
When asked about having Balvinder as his first partner on Strictly, Julian added: “I just think that Bal embodies what this competition is about. Her spirit is unbreakable, and [to Bal] you have shown me that I’m actually dreaming too small, and Bal can inspire us that whatever any of us want in life, all you have to have is the desire to go after it. It took six dance offs and a perfect score to take this lady out, so I am so so proud of you!”
Now, days of from the Strictly final, in which former footballer Karen Carney and her professional partner Carlos Gu were crowned champions and lifted the coveted Glitterball trophy, and Balvinder has been seen responding to Julian’s admission about his semi-final appearance.
During the show, it was quickly discovered that Julian had a tradition of wearing a pair of ‘lucky pants’ for every live performance. But when speaking in an interview with Transport for London (TfL), he confessed: “They’ve served me well and ironically, the only episode I forgot to bring them to was the semi-final. So read into that what you will…”
Julian shared the clip of his chat to his Instagram Story and admitted: “Really dropped the ball here [laughing emoji]. I’m so sorry @leesopal,” to which Balvinder reshared the post to her own page and jokingly teased: “It was your fault @julian_caillon!!!”
