Strictly Come Dancing star Kai Widdrington has been turning heads lately as he’s set to share the stage with a familiar face from Coronation Street in his newest theatrical endeavour.
After gracing our screens in the glittering final of the BBC One dance competition last weekend, performing a jubilant routine with the 2024 cast and pairing up with singer-songwriter Raye for ‘Oscar Winning Tears’, Widdrington is swiftly changing gears.
Hot on the heels of Strictly’s finale, Kai revealed his participation in the pantomime season. He’s primed to embody Captain Hook at Liverpool’s The Auditorium within the M&S Bank Arena for their rendition of ‘Peter Pan’, performing alongside ex-Corrie star Kimberly Hart-Simpson, who will twinkle as Tinkerbell.
Taking to Instagram, he earlier shared the panto’s poster, which commences on Tuesday (December 17).
Kai, complete with a notably grand moustache, penned: “It’s panto season! Come see us at the M&S Arena Liverpool for Panto this Christmas – fun for the whole family – oh yes it is!”
ehearsals are back in full swing for the performer ahead of opening night, as reflected by a recent snapshot of his script in the auditorium captioned: “My new office for the rest of 2024.”
A photo reshared by Kai, initially posted by Kimberlyknown for her role as Nicky Wheatley on ITV’s Coronation Streetwith her annotation “@kaiwidd Panto week,” had Kai chiming in excitedly: “Here we go!!”
Kai recently made waves as he broke a world record in the Strictly 2024 Pro Challenge, which was showcased on the spin-off show It Takes Two.
The yearly competition involves the Strictly professionals trying to execute as many repetitions of a specific dance step within thirty seconds, with the victor setting a new record.
This year’s challenge had the talented dancers performing a Time Step from the cha-cha-cha, under the scrutinising gaze of judge Craig Revel Horwood and adjudicator Will Munford, who were tasked with counting and verifying each attempt.
The final results were unveiled by host Janette Manrara, who invited Kai and fellow Strictly pro Neil Jones into the studio. Their mission was to surpass the previous record of 14 steps, established by Nadiya Bychkova.
After their attempts were broadcasted, it was disclosed that both male pros had achieved 15 Time Steps in 30 seconds. However, one of them faced a disqualification, leaving a clear winner for this year’s record.
Janette then declared that Kai had clinched the top spot on the leaderboard after one of Neil’s steps was disqualified, relegating him to second place for the third consecutive year. “It feels good. I might retire early because I feel it doesn’t get much better than that,” an ecstatic Kai expressed following his triumph.
“I’m gutted [for all my fellow professionals]. I feel so bad, but I’m very happy. Thank you Mum and Dad, all my family. Thank you for everything.”
Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.