The professional dancer announced the news he is leaving the BBC ballroom show after seven years in a post on his Instagram Story and Twitter account on Friday.
He wrote: “To the entire Strictly family, The past 7 years have been some of the most wonderful years of my life. I am grateful to the BBC and Strictly Come Dancing for giving me the opportunity to have been a part of something truly special.
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Kevin Clifton has quit Strictly Come Dancing
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“Since first being called ‘Kevin From Grimsby’ by Sir Bruce Forsyth in 2013 I have experienced the highs of 5 finals, winning a Guinness World record on It Takes Two, the Strictly Arena tour glitterball and then the ultimate of winning the 2018 series with Stacey Dooley. After finishing last series with the Children In Need trophy and the Christmas Special I want to leave on a high and have therefore decided the time has come to move on and focus on other areas of my life and career.”
He continued: “I want to thank all of the pros for inspiring me every day as well as all of my celebrity partners. The whole team behind the scenes have made always made the Strictly family what it is and the loveliest show to work for.
“Thank you to anyone who has ever voted for me and my partners. It means the world. And a special thank you to Jason Gilkison for always believing in me.”
Kevin added: “To me Strictly always has been and always will be the best show on tv and has been an absolute dream and honour to be a part of.
“Pre 2013 I used to watch every week. Now I look forward to returning to being a fan and cheering on my friends who keep dancing.”
Kevin joined the show in 2013 with then-girlfriend Karen Hauer. The pair married in 2015, before announcing their split in 2018.
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Kevin joined the show with Karen Hauer in 2013
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During his time on the show, Kevin was paired with Susanna Reid, Frankie Bridge, Kellie Bright, Louise Redknapp, Susan Calman, Stacey Dooley and Anneka Rice.
He reached five Strictly finals before lifting the Glitterball trophy for the first time in 2018 with Stacey, who he is now in a relationship with.
The BBC said Kevin would be “hugely missed” by his fans and colleagues.
Paying tribute, a spokesperson for the show said: “Kevin has been such a brilliant part of Strictly for the past seven years.
“From reaching the final an impressive five times, to lifting the Glitterball with Stacey Dooley in 2018, he has provided the show with some fantastic moments, through his exceptional talent as a dancer and choreographer. He will be hugely missed by fans and by his Strictly family.
“He will always be our Kevin from Grimsby.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One in the autumn.
Strictly Come Dancing's Biggest Feuds And Fall-Outs
Fern Britton and Artem Chigvintsev(01 of13)
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Fern and Artem danced together in series 10, just missing out on the halfway point when they went home in week six.
In 2015, she claimed that she hadn’t enjoyed working with Artem, claiming he used to “kick” and “shove” her during rehearsals, also suggesting: “He was like, ‘Shut your face. Go home before I kill you’.
“I would say, ‘Oh please just kill me, it would be easier’. Or what was his other one? ‘If you go for a cup of tea now, I will blow off like an atomic bomb.’ I thought, well I won’t correct him on that one.”
Artem later claimed Fern’s comments were not reflective of “any situation he recognised”, insisting he treated the former This Morning host with “respect and genuine care”. (credit:BBC)
Lynda Bellingham and Darren Bennett(02 of13)
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The late Loose Women star lasted four weeks in the competition back in 2009, where she was partnered with Darren Bennett.
A year after her death, Lynda’s widower Michael Pattemore gave an interview claiming she “hated” her experience on the dancing show.
“She said her partner Darren Bennett was such a miserable git. There was no laughter, no fun,” he explained. “All the way through rehearsals she didn’t mind training hard, but it was solid dance. He was just hard work. If Lynda had had a partner like Anton Du Beke or someone, now they would have had some fun together.” (credit:BBC)
Gregg Wallace and Aliona Vilani(03 of13)
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The Masterchef star was the first celebrity eliminated from his series, which he put down to the fact that his professional partner wasn’t exactly his biggest fan.
“I love dancing, but if I were paired with somebody who liked me then I would have done better,” he said.
Following their elimination, Aliona also retweeted a number of messages calling for her to get a better partner in future series, with select messages including “could someone please give Aliona a decent partner next year”.
As it goes, the following year would see her lifting the Glitterball trophy with help from former The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness. (credit:BBC)
Laura Whitmore and Giovanni Pernice(04 of13)
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In 2018, Laura Whitmore published a blog on HuffPost UK in which she outlined the difficulties she faced when she took part in Strictly two years earlier.
“I cried every day,” she wrote. “And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.
“To the outside world I tried to suck it up and smile, and I did that to the best of my ability, but it affected me deeply. My friends and family knew that I was struggling. And they were there for me. The media, however, saw me as blonde bait in a sequinned dress.”
Giovanni Pernice had previously dated Georgia May Foote, Laura’s close friend, until shortly before the series started. (credit:Dave J Hogan via Getty Images)
Unfortunately, by the time they bowed out of the competition, the pair had been dogged by rumours of a fall-out behind the scenes, with tabloid reports claiming he’d left her in tears after a blazing row.
In what was genuinely a low-point for Strictly Come Dancing, Anton Du Beke made headlines during an early series of the show, when he used a racial slur to describe his partner during an off-air conversation.
Anton later issued a statement insisting he’d only used the term “p**i” towards her as backstage “banter” (his words, not ours), and unreservedly apologised for his choice of language.
Former Strictly host Sir Bruce Forsyth later took a bit of heat after the scandal, when he claimed that Anton hadn’t done anything wrong.He said at the time: “We used to have a sense of humour about this. You go back 25, 30, 40 years and there has always been a bit of humour about the whole thing.
”The presenter was later forced to backtrack in a more official capacity, with a statement saying: “To be absolutely clear, the use of racially offensive language is never either funny or acceptable.” (credit:PA)
Anastacia and Brendan Cole(07 of13)
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Back in 2016, Brendan was forced to deny reports that he was bickering behind the scenes with his then-partner Anastacia, telling Digital Spy: “We’ve definitely had some conversations, I won’t lie about that.“I think we’re both two very strong-minded individuals in a process, but we get along very, very well.”Two years later, Anastacia revealed she was still in touch with “pretty much everyone” from Strictly, apart from her professional partner.“We don’t have that kind of connection. It was just for the show,” she said. (credit:BBC)
Nancy Dell'Olio and Anton Du Beke(08 of13)
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During a public event shortly after he and Nancy were voted out of Strictly, Anton was asked for his thoughts on her dancing abilities, joking they were “shit” and that his celebrity partner “never got that good”.
When asked whether he thought the judges had been “cruel” in their comments about Nancy, Anton responded: “I think the producers were cruel giving her to me in the first place.”
Reports around that time also claimed that Nancy had blamed Anton for her poor performance. (credit:Dave M. Benett via Getty Images)
Lulu and Brendan Cole(09 of13)
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That same year, another couple were apparently clashing behind the scenes, with Lulu and Brendan Cole both later revealing their working relationship wasn’t the best.
Brendan has suggested the Shout singer was “not a particularly nice person” when they worked together, and has since branded her his worst ever partner during an interview on Loose Women.
“Blooming awful,” he said. “But she felt the same about me, so it’s alright.” (credit:BBC)
Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse(10 of13)
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They danced their way to victory and became firm friends in the process, but Kelvin and Oti were candid throughout their Strictly journey about the fact that they didn’t always see eye to eye during training.
Similarly, Michelle and Giovanni were both open about the fact that their fiery natures meant that they clashed during rehearsals, even if they always made up in the end.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race judge maintained that she and Giovanni were still friends despite their occasional spats, most notably after a tabloid report that she was “unhappy” with her partner, shortly before she was eliminated.
“Gio is my best friend in this competition, he is my rock and I trust him with everything,” she wrote on Twitter. “We have the most fun and laughs together and to suggest otherwise is just sad.” (credit:David M. Benett via Getty Images)
Brendan Cole and Shirley Ballas(12 of13)
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But it isn’t just the stars and their partners who have rubbed each other up the wrong way over the years.
During her first series on the show, Brendan and Shirley had an awkward moment when he contradicted a critique she’d given of one of his performances, and the Head Judge later admitted that there’d been some tension between them.
“He’s confrontational,” Shirley said. “Every other professional was extremely respectful, very well-mannered, ‘How are you Mrs Ballas? You’re doing a good job’.”
Brendan later admitted that he thinks the confrontation may have cost him his job on the show. (credit:Ian West - PA Images via Getty Images)
Fiona Phillips and Brendan Cole(13 of13)
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After Brendan was axed from the show, Fiona said in an interview with the Daily Star that the move was "karma" as he "wasn't very nice" towards her when they were partnered together back in 2005."Brendan was a real bugger, actually," she claimed. "He wasn’t very nice. He was really naughty.“He’s not on the show now. Karma indeed. It works its way every time.” (credit:BBC)