The Strictly curse has been broken! That's thanks to the news that Strictly stars Molly Rainford and Tyler West are engaged, three years after meeting on the show.
West popped the question on a romantic trip to Mykonos, and shared an emotional video of the moment online. In the video, he says 'I don’t know where to start – so I’m hoping you can continue making me the luckiest man on this Earth, like you do every single day,' before asking Molly to marry him - to which she says yes. In the caption on the video, he wrote 'Found our forever.'
Here's everything you need to know about this Strictly romance success story....
2022: Molly and Tyler meet on Strictly
Eastenders star Molly and Radio DJ Nick were both contestants on the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Molly succeeded on the show, making it to the final with professional dancer Carlos Gu, before the trophy went to Hamza Yassin and his partner Jowita Przystal. Tyler was partnered with pro Dianne Buswell, and the pair were booted out halfway through the contest.
The pair actually started out as friends. Rainford told OK: 'Everyone thinks that we got together on the show, but we didn’t. It kind of happened after but what’s so lovely is that we kind of built a little friendship,' continuing 'I think because it stems from such a cool friendship into something more, that’s what makes it so cool. He’s a good boy. I’m very lucky.'
2023: Romance blossoms
Molly spoke to Fabulous magazine about her budding romancer with Tyler, revealing they grew close near the end of the tour. 'I suppose it developed towards the end of the tour because we'd spent so much time together and we were really good friends,' she told the outlet. 'The tour was so much fun. We were just doing everything together and it just progressed from there really.'
She also said it was Tyler who asked her out once the tour had finished. 'He was like, 'Do you think when we get back, we could go on a date?' and I was like, 'Yeah, alright!' I was totally up for it,' she said. 'Everyone on Strictly was so excited for us. They kind of wanted it to happen [all the way through the show] and we were like, "No, we are trying to be professional."'
In fact, Tyler even pinpointed the moment he knew it was love with Molly, which was on the Newcastle tour. 'The minute I’d leave Molly, I’d miss her,' he said. 'When you both feel it, you just know,' said Molly.
2024: Molly and Tyler move in together
In January 2024, Molly and Nic took the step of moving in together. 'We are good and going strong and are actually moving in together - we’re just going through, you know dining tables and sofas and all that kind of stuff, it’s exciting,' she told Mail Online at the time. Tyler also said: 'Molly’s turned into a whole interior designer so I’m just taking a complete back seat!'
2025: Molly and Tyler get engaged
Wedding bells are on the cards after Tyler popped the question on a trip to Mykonos at sunset, with the couple sharing the adorable moment in a video on Instagram. Naturally, friends were quick to offer their congratulations to the couple. Strictly: It Takes Two host Fleur East called it 'the most beautiful proposal' while JLS star Marvin Humes penned 'Wow... this is a lot. Couldn’t be happier for two incredible people who are just perfect for eachother... I’m SO happy!!! Ah man this has made my night... congrats family...'
Alice Hall is the Staff Writer at Grazia UK. At Grazia, she writes news and features about pop culture, health, politics and interiors.