Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen have announced their engagement.
The Russian dancer and the former rugby player, who first met when they were partnered on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, revealed the exciting news to Hello! magazine.
The couple also shared a photo of the moment Ben, 44, proposed to Kristina, 45, on the beach in the Maldives.
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Speaking about their engagement, Kristina said: “It was the biggest surprise of my life.”
“Although we’d talked before about getting married one day, I hadn’t the slightest idea that Ben was planning this. I was overcome with emotion and said: ‘Yes, yes and yes’ straight away.”
Ben said: “I wanted us to go further forward together and taking a holiday in such a beautiful place felt like the perfect moment to do that.”
“Setting the scene had to be really special and with the help of members of staff at the resort, we achieved that. It was truly incredible and blew me away.”
Kristina added: “It was absolutely surreal and I couldn’t believe what was happening. I’m usually very perceptive but I didn’t have a clue Ben had been planning this. How he managed to keep it a secret was amazing.’
The couple first met when they were partnered on Strictly in 2013, while Ben was still married to his first wife Abby – with whom he shares 13-year-old twins Harriette and Isabelle.
Kristina and Ben have always maintained that their relationship didn’t begin until the year after he took part in Strictly, following his split from Abby.
The couple have since welcomed a daughter named Milena together, who is now 5.
