20 October 2023 , 19:36
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Strictly's Karen Hauer seemed to be nursing heartache last week amid reports her marriage is over, but having a comedian as a dance partner must be a tonic.
She’s paired up with funnyman Eddie Kadi, and he says the pair have been cracking each other up in rehearsals. “As a comedian, you automatically think, ‘I’m gonna come into this space and she’ll expect me to make her laugh’,” says Eddie, 40, as they take a quick break from this week’s routine.
“No! She makes me laugh, because she’s just herself. From the very beginning she was goofy. She’ll be doing random things and suddenly she’s on the floor laughing with her legs up in the air, and I’ll be like, ‘what?’ I love this girl, she’s mental.” Karen, the show’s longest-serving professional dancer, set tongues wagging as she attended last week’s Pride of Britain Awards minus her wedding ring.
It was later reported that she has split “amicably” from husband Jordan Wyn-Jones, a fitness professional from Australia whom she wed last year. Karen appeared dejected, quieter than usual and almost on ther verge of tears during last week’s show – even when she and Eddie unaminously waltzed (well, American Smoothed) their way through the dance-off yet again, this time sending paralympian Jody Cundy home.
Couple in last week’s live show (PA)She’s not ready to discuss her marriage, but the fact her mood’s bounced back to normal, with the ring still missing, suggests – for now at least – she’s looking forward. Karen and Eddie have been immersing themselves in rehearsals for this weekend’s samba. For, as Eddie knows well, she’s most definitely a fan of the “keep calm and carry on” mentality.
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“I don’t do sick,” she jokes. “There’s no such thing as a sick day in Strictly!” Eddie and Karen have plenty to talk about during rehearsals – they keep discovering more and more in common, including their eerily similar starts in life. Eddie, born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fled with his family to the UK at the age of nine when civil disturbance spilled over into violence.
Meanwhile Venezuela-born Karen moved to America aged eight. “We literally have the same story,” says Eddie. “We both came from a foreign land, she went to New York, I went to London around the same age; we both acquired a new language, a new culture. It’s such a joy.
“We talk about it all the time, our upbringing. She wants to learn all about the Congo, I want to know more about Venezuela. She’s still pushing The Bronx more than Venezuela but I’m willing to work on that!” Karen has even been adopted by the British-Congolese community, who have renamed her “Ya Karo” and love their Instagram clips of themselves dancing Ndombolo – a fast-paced rhythm that uses the hips and arms.
Eddie also taught Karen the Congo swagger, used by “elegant men who want to show off their wealth and their expensive, colourful clothes”, he explains. “It’s changed how Karen walks,” he says. “When we went to Pride of Britain, and she wanted to show off her outfit she did the swagger.
Eddie as a baby with his father (DAILY MIRROR)
Karen as a child (DAILY MIRROR)"I posted it and the entire Congolese community went, ‘she HAS to come to the Congo.’ Every time I look at her I’m in stitches.” Karen was married to dance partner Matthew Hauer for nine years until 2009, and was working on the BBC show with second husband and fellow Strictly pro Kevin Clifton when their three-year marriage ended in 2018.
Eddie, who spent his teenage years in South West London and did music technology at Kingston University, before breaking into comedy - and winning the Best Comedy Newcomer at the 2009 BECA Awards. He’s since appeared in the film Anuvahood, packed out arenas on both sides of the pond, presents a Radio 1Xtra Afrobeats show and is a regular on TV panel shows.
Now he’s also in his best shape ever – thanks again to Karen. “We’re usually here at 9am, we start at 10,” says Karen of their gruelling rehearsals, which take place from Mondays to showtime on Saturday evening. We have to have a debrief, we go for a walk to release our minds.
“We have our coffee, our croissants, our ginger shots. We warm up slowly, we warm up our brains, and then from 10am to 1pm we’re on it.” After an hour for lunch, taskmaster Karen ensures they’re straight back to work until 5pm. It means they are exhausted by the end of the day, but Eddie has never felt healthier.
“During the quickstep rehearsal week we did about 15,000 steps a day,” Karen says, checking her smartwatch. It means Eddie now fits back in clothes he grew out of years ago. “Even the Strictly wardrobe team commented the other day, saying ‘you’ve gone down again, you’ve lost weight again’,” he says with pride.
Eddie is a popular stage star (Redferns via Getty Images)“I’ve got waistcoats that have been sitting there for two years that suddenly fit again. Even my skinny jeans feel baggy! I’m in the best shape of my life. It’s just the best experience of my life so far. It’s also such a healthy experience, and I needed it.” Karen introduced Eddie to morning shots – fiery ginger and turmeric – and keeps tabs on his lunches to check he’s not eating anything that will put him in a 3pm food coma.
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“Karen can tell when I’m losing it,” he smiles. “His eyes go all glazed over and I’m talking to him while he’s just looking up at the sky,” Karen says with faux frustration. When she does let them out the studio, they enjoy local restaurants and the cuisines of their childhoods.
Growing up in the spectre of war in Congo, then known as Zaire, definitely shaped Eddie. Yet despite the violence on the streets, Eddie remembers an idyllic childhood with a vast mango tree in the front garden that his uncles would climb to fetch the fresh fruit. “Congo was so joyful,” he recalls. “Even when war was brewing, I was protected from that. My grandad was a farmer and he’d come back from the villages with truckloads of food. My childhood is something I’m always proud to talk about.”
His recollections spark a memory for Karen, a new shared detail to bond over. “Outside my house we had a coconut tree,” she says. “I once ate so many coconuts I got sick.” “Oh my GOD!” shouts Eddie. “We are literally the same!” With that, they collapse into more giggles, and all too soon it’s time to leave them to their afternoon of dizzying Samba practice.
* Strictly Come Dancing returns tonight at 6.35pm on BBC One.