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Kristina Rihanoff says marriage to Ben Cohen is on the cards as they're still going strong six years after 'Strictly' Curse

(Getty)
(Getty)

Falling victim to the Strictly Curse might not seem like the strongest start to a relationship, but dancer Kristina Rihanoff has said that her relationship with Ben Cohen is still going strong - and they expect to marry in a couple of years.

The pair met when they were partnered in the 2013 series of Strictly Come Dancing, with ex-rugby player Cohen still married to the mother of his twin daughters, Abby Blayney, at the time.

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But their 13-year marriage came to an end when he met Rihanoff, making the pair one of many to have met under the Strictly Curse - where celebrities on the show end up leaving their other half for their dance partner.

Now, Cohen and Rihanoff have a two-year-old daughter, Mila, together and the Russian dancer is still gushing in her praise for him six years on.

She told Hello magazine: “(Marriage) will probably be in a couple of years. Hopefully we'll gather the family around and it'll happen.

“Ben is the best dad in the world. Mila is such a daddy's girl and she's always on the go.

“She doesn't stop. She goes to rugby class, and also to dance and yoga with me. She's a very active girl.”

Read more: Ashley Roberts says she and Giovanni won’t be hit by Strictly Curse

Cohen and Blayney finally divorced in 2016, three years after he met Rihanoff, and Blayney said at the time: “If it wasn’t for that woman me and Ben would still be married. But so what? I’m moving on.

“I don’t want to talk about being the ditched wife. Ben’s getting on with his life. I wish him well with his new family.”

Ben Cohen with his ex-wife, Abby Blayney (Getty)
Ben Cohen with his ex-wife, Abby Blayney (Getty)

In April, Rihanoff weighed in on the Strictly Curse debate when it was revealed that 2018 series winners Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton were an item.

She told Good Morning Britain: “That's what's difficult about this because there is always going to be someone hurt or someone feeling it's wrong what's happening, but people do meet at work and that's where we work.

Read more: Ben Cohen’s ex calls for Strictly to improve contestant family support

“I think it’s about creating a very strong bond and trusting one another. The show is very intense, emotionally and physically.

“At the end of the day you have a very big task in front of you and lots of pressure on your shoulders… people have to trust one another and I think that’s where it all starts.”

Rihanoff also had a relationship with another of her Strictly partners, Joe Calzaghe, which lasted around four years.