Strictly’s Nikita Kuzmin cried ‘tears of joy’ when reunited with Dani Dyer

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Cite

O'Grady, S. (2026, September 20). Strictly’s Nikita Kuzmin cried ‘tears of joy’ when reunited with Dani Dyer. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/danny-dyer-sarah-storey-lacey-turner-shaun-wrightphillips-bbc-one-b1297718.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-20 · by Sean O'Grady

Quick Summary

Professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin expressed tears of joy upon being reunited with his partner Dani Dyer on the 2026 series of Strictly Come Dancing. The pair were previously paired last year but had to part ways when Dyer injured her ankle. Both dancers are enthusiastic about their reunion, with Dyer noting she is excited to perform the cha-cha-cha and recalling her initial disbelief at the announcement. This season includes a roster of other celebrity contestants such as actress Melanie Walters and singer Delta Goodrem.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

The articles discuss the 24th season launch of the British television dancing competition "Strictly Come Dancing." Here are key points from these articles:

This marks a significant change for Strictly as it introduces new hosts while maintaining its iconic format of pairing celebrities with professional dancers in ballroom dancing competitions.

Written for “Strictly 2026 Launch Show” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 9 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Strictly 2026 Launch Show
Entertainment · 10 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard · 1.00 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 15 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles report on the exact same occurrence of Nikita Kuzmin crying 'tears of joy' when reunited with Dani Dyer on Strictly Come Dancing, including identical quotes and context.”
Evening Standard · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 50 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin being reunited as dance partners on Strictly Come Dancing in 2026, with similar quotes from both participants about their happiness at being paired together again.”
Evening Standard · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 7 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the reunion of Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin on Strictly Come Dancing, with similar quotes about their happiness at being paired together again.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 20 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin being paired up again for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, with the second article focusing on Kuzmin's emotional reaction to their reunion.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles cover Dani Dyer's reunion with Nikita Kuzmin on Strictly Come Dancing, Article A focuses on viewership statistics for the launch show, while Article B is specifically about Nikita Kuzmin's emotional reaction to being paired with Dani Dyer.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
10
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-21 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 5598 article(s) · 46 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 46 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Sean O'Grady
73 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 We planned how we would tell the girls, and even started thinking about names.
🔮 “And I thought, myself, I would rather be born and have that person that was my favourite person and experience that than not at all.
🔮 With nearly 260 million albums sold worldwide, Dion is one of the best-selling and most decorated artists in pop music history, known for hits including My Heart Will Go On and Because You Loved Me.
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Barbie honours Celine Dion with signature doll
🔮 Christine Baranski: Hay Fever would be ‘perfect play’ to end my theatre career Baranski will play retired actress Judith Bliss in the play, about four members of the same family and their outlandish behaviour when they invite four guests to their home for the weekend.
🔮 Davies said Mr Brittin “hasn’t worked in television for that long and might not be so fruity with an opinion in future.”
🔮 The musician, 62, will be recognised for his songwriting and “enduring influence on modern music”.
🔮 The long-running radio drama could be recorded outside of the city for the first time after plans to use a new studio at the BBC’s Tea Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham, were shelved.
🔮 The long-running radio drama could be recorded outside of the city for the first time after plans to use a new studio at the BBC’s Tea Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham, were shelved.
🔮 I never imagined how deeply it would affect me to see someone larger than life face something so human and fragile.
🔮 “I will say to the faithfuls, I don’t think the traitors are as dumb or silly or confused as you might think they are.
Also by Sean O'Grady
Barbie honours Celine Dion with signature doll
2026-10-14 · Evening Standard
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 73 articles by Sean O'Grady →

Topics

Australian England Paralympian

Subjects

Dyer PERSON · 4× Kuzmin PERSON · 3× Australian NORP · 1× Dani Dyer PERSON · 1× Delta Goodrem PERSON · 1× England GPE · 1× Lacey Turner PERSON · 1× Melanie Walters PERSON · 1× Nikita Kuzmin PERSON · 1× Shaun Wright-Phillips PERSON · 1×

Narrative

They are joined by actress Lacey Turner, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, Love Island winner Cach Mercer, presenter Will Best, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, actresses Jaime Winstone and Bethany Antonia, dog trainer and presenter Graeme “The Dogfather” Hall, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb, Olympian Tabby Stoecker and sports content creator John Nellis.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-21
🔮 Professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin has revealed he cried “tears of joy” when he was reunited with Dani Dyer on Strictly Come Dancing and would have been “jealous” to see her with someone else.
2026-09-21 · Evening Standard
Strictly’s Nikita Kuzmin cried ‘tears of joy’ when reunited with Dani Dyer · assertive framing
2026-09-21 · Evening Standard
Strictly’s Nikita Kuzmin cried ‘tears of joy’ when reunited with Dani Dyer · assertive framing

Claims (15 extracted, 0 hedged)

Professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin has revealed he cried “tears of joy” when he was reunited with Dani Dyer on Strictly Come Dancing and would have been “jealous” to see her with someone else. asserted
he → reveal → someone
The pair have been coupled up again on the 2026 series after Dyer was forced to drop out of last year’s show when she fractured her ankle during rehearsals. asserted
she → couple → rehearsals
After learning they would be partners again, Kuzmin said: “When they announced both of us being together, my right eye was having tears of joy, I don’t know why not the left one. asserted
I → learn → joy
I was feeling so much joy.” asserted
I → feel → joy
He added: “Not gonna lie, I was worried if she went to somebody else, I was going to get jealous because she’s my partner and if I see her with someone else, I’ll be like, ‘oh my goodness’.” asserted
I → add → someone
Dyer admitted she was “devastated” when she had to leave the competition last year but was “so excited” to be paired with Kuzmin again. asserted
she → admit → Kuzmin
Kuzmin added: “She kept messing with my head, ‘no, they definitely won’t put us together’.” asserted
they → add → us
Dyer added: “I just didn’t think they would! asserted
they → add → ?
But when they said it, I was like, ‘oh my God’.” asserted
I → say → it
Asked about her dancing skills, Dyer said: “I loved it when I was little. asserted
I → ask → it
I’m alright. asserted
I → ’m → ?
“I’m good when I’m out with my friends and you’ve had a few drinks, you can’t get me off the stage.” asserted
you → ’m → stage
The former Love Island winner said the cha-cha-cha is the dance she is most excited to perform. asserted
she → say → ?
The other celebrities taking part this year are actress Melanie Walters, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and Australian singer Delta Goodrem. asserted
celebrities → take → part
They are joined by actress Lacey Turner, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, Love Island winner Cach Mercer, presenter Will Best, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, actresses Jaime Winstone and Bethany Antonia, dog trainer and presenter Graeme “The Dogfather” Hall, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb, Olympian Tabby Stoecker and sports content creator John Nellis. asserted
They → join → Turner
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