Strictly Come Dancing viewers were over the moon to see Nicola Adams and Katya Jones return to the dance floor during this year’s live final.
Nicola and Katya made history in 2020, as the first same-sex pairing to ever compete in the BBC reality show.
However, their time on Strictly was sadly cut short when Katya contracted Covid-19, meaning the duo had to bow out of the series early.
While the BBC has said that the pair would not be given an opportunity to return and compete in next year’s series, they were able to perform together one last time during the live final.
Rather than reprising one of their old routines, Nicola and Katya performed a new dance, set to Muse’s cover of Feeling Good, first made famous by Nina Simone.
And it’s safe to say viewers were over the moon to see the two women back in the Strictly ballroom for one last performance…
Recalling the moment she was told she had to leave the competition during a recent interview with Mel B for the Guardian, Nicola said: “Every Saturday, everybody gets tested [for Covid]. But the test results don’t come through till the Tuesday.
“So we were ready to start the new week, we were so excited. Then on the Tuesday we got the test back and Katya tested positive. I just couldn’t believe it. Katya was in tears, and that was it. We had to isolate.”
During the same interview, Nicola also spoke of how she’d previously turned down the offer to appear on Strictly as she didn’t want to dance with a man.
“I’d been asked to do it since 2012 and I’ve always said no, because I don’t like wearing dresses and I didn’t want to dance with a man,” she explained.
“This year, I was supposed to go to Tokyo for the Olympics to do some commentary, then some presenting for the boxing. That didn’t happen and Strictly got in touch again.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll do it. But I’m not wearing a dress, and I want to dance with another woman’.
“And on the call they asked me three times, ‘Are you sure you won’t dance with a man?’ And I said no, either I do it this way or I don’t want to do the show at all. It took a couple of weeks. But they came back, and they said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do it. We’re going to support you the whole way’. I never saw two women dancing on TV growing up, so I never thought that would happen.”
The Strictly final saw comedian Bill Bailey crowned this year’s champion, with Oti Mabuse becoming the first of the show’s professionals to win two years in a row.
