Strictly Come Dancing‘s Kai Widdrington is dazzling audiences off the dance floor as he takes on a new role in pantomime. Fresh from his sparkling appearance in the BBC One dance competition’s grand final, where he wowed viewers alongside the 2024 cast and performed with singer-songwriter Raye, Kai is now embarking on a whole new challenge as he takes on his festive stint in panto.
He’s playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan at The Auditorium at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena, with former Coronation Street actress Kimberly Hart-Simpson by his side as Tinkerbell. Taking to Instagram, Kai excitedly shared a poster of the upcoming show, which kicked off on Tuesday, 17 December, complete with a dashing ‘stache, and invited fans to join the fun. “It’s panto season! Come see us at the M&S arena Liverpool for Panto this Christmas – fun for the whole family – oh yes it is!,” he wrote.
(Image: Kai Widdrington Instagram)
Back in rehearsals, he posted a peek at his script inside the venue, calling it “My new office for the rest of 2024.” He also reposted a photo with Kimberly, who played Nicky Wheatley on ITV’s Corrie, originally captioned “@kaiwidd Panto week,” to which Kai enthusiastically replied: “Here we go! !”
Kai recently made headlines as he smashed a world record on the Strictly 2024 Pro Challenge, a segment of the spin-off show It Takes Two. The annual competition sees the Strictly professionals attempting to perform as many repetitions of a specific dance step in 30 seconds, with the winner setting a new record.
(Image: INSTAGRAM)
This year’s challenge had the talented dancers performing a Time Step from the cha-cha-cha, under the watchful eye of judge Craig Revel Horwood and adjudicator Will Munford, who were responsible for counting and verifying each attempt. The final results were announced by host Janette Manrara, who welcomed Kai and fellow Strictly pro Neil Jones into the studio, reports the Liverpool Echo.
They were tasked with beating the previous record of 14 steps, set by Nadiya Bychkova. After their attempts were shown, it was revealed that both male pros had managed 15 Time Steps in 30 seconds. However, one of them had a disqualification, leaving a clear winner for this year’s record.
(Image: WireImage)
Janette then announced that Kai had secured the top spot on the leaderboard after one of Neil’s steps was disqualified, pushing him down to second place for the third consecutive year. “It feels good. I might retire early because I feel it doesn’t get much better than that,” a thrilled Kai said after his win. “I’m gutted [for all my fellow professionals]. I feel so bad, but I’m very happy. Thank you Mum and Dad, all my family. Thank you for everything.”
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