Behind the glitz and glamour of TV’s Strictly lies a brutal truth that appearing on the show can be seriously hazardous to your marriage. Much has been said of the so-called Strictly Curse, given the number of relationships involving dancers that have broken up – with the running total reckoned to be almost a dozen.
The latest to suffer such heartbreak are pro dancer Karen Hauer and her businessman husband, Jordan Wyn-Jones. Despite only marrying in June last year, the couple revealed last month that they were going their separate ways after a ‘tough’ few months.
The background to their break-up, explained by Jordan in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, offers an instructive insight into the pressures of being part of the Strictly carousel, with dancers being away from home for long periods, not just filming the BBC show, but also touring the nation with Strictly Come Dancing Live!
He said: ‘It’s a bit of a love story, a sad story. I’m incredibly sad not to be in Karen’s life, and not be on this journey with her but we’re not right for each other in terms of her career. I will always admire her for her career but it took her away from me a lot. She’d be away and I’d be at home on my own.’
Central to their break-up was that his wish to start a family clashed with Karen’s commitment to the show as its longest-serving professional.
Having talked about having children, they moved from Karen’s home in Wimbledon, South West London, to the North of England where they settled in the countryside with their four dogs.
But instead of cosy nights in, Jordan says their relationship became a series of video and phone calls as his wife, an American-Venezuelan ballroom champion, travelled around the country.
Without a doubt, being a female Strictly professional makes decisions about having a baby much more difficult than for most other women. It goes without saying that it would be impossible to take part in the show while heavily pregnant.
But with Karen approaching 40, Jordan, 34, had his heart set on becoming a father.
However, when a friend alerted him to a magazine interview in which his wife said she didn’t know if she wanted children, he knew his dream was unlikely to come true.
‘Karen’s dedicated to her career, which she has worked really hard for,’ Jordan says. ‘She’s amazing and I admire her for it. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to marry her – because of how powerful she is.
‘But we wanted different things. There was a plan about having children but then there wasn’t a plan.
‘When we first met, we discussed it. You do say things like, ‘I want to have kids’. And she’d mentioned to me that she wanted to have kids with me. But in the interview, Karen said ‘kids aren’t the future’ – which did make me sad. I’ve always wanted to be a father.
‘I wouldn’t say it was a shock but I knew subconsciously in the back of my head… why would she want to have a child with me?
‘I’d become vacant in our relationship. I was loving and so caring for her but I was vacant because of the situation that we found ourselves in.’
When the couple met to discuss the magazine interview eight weeks ago, Jordan says they broke down crying as they admitted their marriage was over.
Jordan says: ‘There were tears on both sides. A lot of tears and sadness. We didn’t want to let go of each other but we’re also not right for each other.
‘If we’d stayed together and we didn’t have a family, I felt I would have ended up resenting her. This is the perfect moment for us to love each other and leave each other.’
Their marriage had collapsed just a year after what Karen had then described as ‘a fairytale’ wedding, covered by Hello magazine, at Chewton Glen Country House Hotel in the New Forest.
Jordan says: ‘Karen has a lot of work on and she’s career-driven. That’s OK but I need a different type of support in a partner. I’m not saying she didn’t support me because she did, but she just wasn’t around.’
While Jordan was Karen’s third husband – she was previously married to two dance partners, Matthew Hauer and Kevin Clifton, and then dated opera singer David Webb – Kevin had only been married once before.
He says his relationship with Karen blossomed even before they had met in the flesh. Jordan, originally from Brighton, was living in Sydney when he started to follow Karen on Instagram. She followed him back and they began to exchange messages before regularly speaking on FaceTime.
Perhaps, in hindsight, this unorthodox dating method was a clue that life as a Strictly professional doesn’t make it easy to find love in the traditional way. But having lived Down Under for two decades, Jordan had scant idea of the significance of the show and asked Karen to send video clips of her dancing.
He recalls: ‘I thought she was beautiful. I did not know what Strictly was! She was so coy, humble and modest about how brilliant she was. I loved that about her.’
They communicated online for about six months and then Karen asked if he would move to London to spend their lives together.
Immediately, Jordan booked flights and flew back to the UK for the first time in his adult life.
‘We’d not even met,’ he grins. ‘Imagine how scared I was on the plane. I’d never even kissed her. It was really beautiful.’ On the way to her home from the airport, he bought some flowers. ‘I remember that they were yellow,’ he says. ‘When I think about Karen, I see yellow. She’s just so bright. I knocked on the door and we kissed straight away. We were together.
‘I never had a backup plan. I just moved in with her and her dogs and started to build a life. I had a whole life in Australia which I left to be with Karen.’
Suddenly, he became immersed in the world of Strictly – and found the celebrity lifestyle overwhelming. Jordan recalls how he ‘froze’ in the flashes of the paparazzi on the red carpet when he and Karen went to the opening night of Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall.
He said it was intimidating to meet other Strictly dancers and to witness the rigmarole of the show being filmed in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and of the touring stage show. That said, he doesn’t blame the Strictly Curse and has no regrets about marrying Karen – who declined to comment on their split last night.
‘We used to laugh about the Strictly Curse because it’s so silly,’ Jordan said. ‘Karen doesn’t have it in her to be unfaithful and dishonest – she’s just not that person. I just trusted her. It was never a thing in our relationship because when I met her I knew who she was.
‘She doesn’t throw herself at people. She’s got this respect for herself, respect for her career, her peers, her job, the BBC.
‘She’s very proud of being the show’s longest-serving professional. She’s worked very hard and she’s so good, she’s such a professional.’
But there was a price to pay.
‘When it was just us two together, there was never a front. I just knew Karen. I’d never known her as a celebrity. I knew her as my Karen. I used to call her ‘My little Jones’, and she still is for me. I’m sad, to lose that person and I think she feels the same.
‘I see it as a love story. We are going to remain friends. We haven’t filed for divorce yet but there’s nothing to fight over or be concerned about. We still text and it’s all lovely and nice.
‘However, we were causing each other hurt. I want a family and she’s not there yet in her life. It’s a real shame. When we talk, we still say ‘I love you’ We’re just not right for each other.’
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
