Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has invited her dance partner Carlos Gu to move in with her after spending Christmas together.
The professional pair are gearing up for their UK tour titled Reborn, hot on the heels of Strictly Come Dancing 2024‘s finale. Amid their packed schedules, 34-year-old Amy has commissioned builders to renovate a room in her Midlands home for Carlos.
In a candid new interview, she opened up about her Strictly journey, the deliberate choice in pairing with Carlos, and the deeply personal connotations behind their tour’s name. “Carlos is the perfect height for me,” she confided to The Guardian.
“Same height as my husband, who was my dance partner. It is important.”
Amy, who recently overcame a stage three breast cancer battle, described feeling “reborn” after being declared free of the disease last February. And she shares that emotion with Carlos, who feels liberated in the UK.
She disclosed: “We both feel reborn. Me after my cancer journey and him after moving to the UK and finally being able to – he feels – be true to himself.
“Being gay, he’s accepted in the UK, where he can wear the clothes he wants and be the Carlos Gu that he had been holding back. We’ve both got a strong story to tell.”
Having already become an integral part of Amy’s household over past Christmas gatherings, Carlos admits he has grown to love the UK at Christmas. During a recent BBC Radio Manchester appearance he revealed that he experienced his “best” Christmas so far in the UK.
“In China, we don’t really spend Christmas,” the 32-year-old shared. “In the past three years, I wasn’t really spending because I didn’t really understand how Christmas [is] like here.
“But then Amy invited me last year, I said ‘definitely’ and then the family – we spent five days together. And her mum, her dad and her sister, it’s just like family to me. We were playing the games, it was like a proper, best Christmas I ever had.”
Christmas turned out to be a much-needed boost for both after the challenges of the previous Strictly season, reports Wales Online. Carlos found himself without a partner for the first time in two years while Amy experienced an unexpected end to her journey with JB Gill, due to collapsing backstage from an injury in week six.
In her absence, Lauren Oakley took over training with the JLS celebrity, and they impressively reached the final. Amy expressed that she was “devastated” to withdraw from the show, but she recognised the necessity of the decision.
Despite the setback, she remains optimistic about returning to what she loves, saying: “Dance is my happy place. And hopefully Strictly will have me back next year.”
Following her early exit this series due to health concerns, Amy said: “After having to pull out this year, I still haven’t had that year of being back dancing and feeling truly like Amy again.”