There are a lot of fan-favourite couples on Strictly Come Dancing this year and, among them are Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington. The pair have produced some of the highest-scoring routines of the series, starting with their iconic Samba in Week 1. And they haven't looked back since.
However, the Strictly dancefloor will be missing Kai this week as the competition heads into Week 8, as the veteran professional dancer has had to pull out. Thankfully, the show has a more-than-worthy replacement lined up to dance with Delta this weekend as Aljaž Škorjanec will be stepping in.
Strictly announces that Kai will miss this week due to illness
Unfortunately, Kai Widdrington won't be taking to the Strictly dancefloor this weekend. The BBC announced ahead of this Saturday's Week 8 show that he would miss it due to illness. As a result, Delta will dance their originally-planned Argentine Tango with legendary pro Aljaž Škorjanec.
In a statement that was also shared on the BBC Strictly Instagram account, a spokesperson said:
"Due to illness, Kai Widdrington is unable to dance on Saturday night’s Strictly. Instead, Aljaž will step in to dance the Argentine Tango with Delta. We’re sending Kai all our love and hope he feels better very soon."
The comments section of the post were understandably flooded with love for the Strictly pro, with Head Judge Shirley Ballas leading the charge, saying "@kaiwidd hugs get well soon." Fellow judge Motsi Mabuse and Strictly professional dancer Nancy Xu also offered well wishes, both telling Kai to get well soon.
Ironically, Aljaž was one of the pros fans were thinking might get paired with Delta at the beginning of the series due to their similar heights (Kai was indeed the other one) but that didn't end up happening. He was partnered with legendary actress and Gavin and Stacy star Melanie Walters, who was eliminated in Week 5. He will certainly be a great stand-in for Kai this week and we're excited to see him do their Argentine Tango justice.
Kai's absence this week isn't the first time that the pair have faced a difficult weekend, as Delta herself had to pull out of the show's fourth competitive installment (a.k.a. Icons Week) due to injury. Thankfully, she has recovered and the pair have been lighting up the dancefloor ever since.
As we said above, Delta and Kai have delivered some of this series' most standout routines. Their Samba in Week 1 brought the house down and started their journey on a high, while their American Smooth, Salsa, Rumba, Viennese Waltz, and Cha Cha have all delivered high scores too. Their Week 3 Salsa was, at the time, the highest-scoring routine in the competition, while their Week 5 Rumba earned the first 10 of the series.
The pair are certainly frontrunners this series, with fans already predicting well before last week's halfway point of the competition that they will make the Final. Considering how well they have been doing, we can definitely see that happening!
It goes without saying that we are wishing Kai all the very best and hope that he has a speedy recovery and feels well again soon.
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