Kevin Clifton pays tribute to ‘miracle’ Stacey Dooley amid romance rumours

Kevin Clifton has praised his former Strictly Come Dancing partner, Stacey Dooley, as a "miracle" as rumours of a romance between the two continue.

The dancer, who announced he had split from his wife Karen last March, also spoke about how it was "difficult" to be in the public eye. Speaking at a dance show called Burn the Floor on Thursday night, he said [via The Mirror]:

“In the last couple of years I’ve seen massive upheaval in my personal life and it hasn’t always been easy. “There have been a lot of things thrown at me. At times I’ve struggled. And the times I’ve struggled and I was in a bit of a rut I didn’t know what to do.”

The 36-year-old added that he isn't "the best" at dealing with the negative publicity around his personal life.

“It gets difficult and I’m not the best at dealing with it. “But at that point Burn the Floor stepped in again and the producers gave me a call and said, ‘Why don’t you come home.’ So it felt right and I came home. “And thanks to Miss Stacey Dooley, I can finally say I’m the Strictly champion after six years of trying. It’s a miracle.”

Stacey and her partner Kevin Clifton won the last series of the show, taking home the glitterball trophy in September. She then embarked on the Strictly tour afterwards, with her hectic schedule cited as a reason behind her split with her boyfriend, Sam, last month. However, a few weeks later, Sam decided to come out and say that Stacey had been receiving intimate messages from Kevin while she was competing in the BBC competition. Sam said he didn't say anything about it at the time but proceeded to call Kevin a "rat" and accused him of being the reason why Stacey and he split up. Stacey provided her own rebuttal on the scenario by wishing Sam all the best and saying that nothing had been going on between herself and Kevin until after she ended her relationship with Sam.