Nadiya Bychkova
Nadiya Bychkova is a Ukrainian ballroom and Latin American dancer who is a multiple-time Slovenian Ballroom and Latin Champion and two-time World and European Champion in '10' Dance. In 2017, she joined the British television show Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer. She holds two Guinness World Records at Strictly's Pro Challenge for the most dance steps in 30 seconds - for fleckerls in 2020 and pat-a-cakes in 2021.
Personal life
In 2013, Bychkova married Russian dancer Sergey Konovaltsev; the marriage lasted two years. Bychkova was later engaged to Slovenian footballer Matija Skarabot, with whom she has a daughter named Mila.In April 2015, Bychkova featured in the Ukrainian edition of Playboy magazine; she was also on the cover of FHM in March 2012.
In an appearance on Saturday Mash-Up! in January 2022, Bychkova was 'Super Slimed' with 20 buckets of gunge, after receiving 63% of a viewer vote against Dan Walker and Kai Widdrington. Also in January 2022, she announced that she and Matija were no longer a couple and had been living apart for a while. In June 2022, she confirmed she was in a relationship with Strictly co-star Kai Widdrington, although they are reportedly no longer together as of July 2024.
Career
''Strictly Come Dancing''
In 2017, Bychkova appeared as a professional dancer in the fifteenth series of the British television dance show Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with EastEnders actor Davood Ghadami. They reached the quarter final of the competition, finishing in sixth place.She returned for her second series in 2018, partnered with another 'former' EastEnders actor and Blue singer Lee Ryan. The couple were eliminated in week three.
Bychkova returned for her third series in 2019 and was partnered with ex-professional footballer David James. They were the fourth couple to be eliminated.
In 2021, Bychkova was paired with television journalist, BBC Breakfast, The NFL Show and former Football Focus presenter Dan Walker, some taller.
In 2022, Bychkova was paired with singer, Matt Goss. They were the third couple to be eliminated. In 2023, Bychkova returned to the series but had no celebrity partner.
In 2024, Bychkova was paired with Olympic swimmer Tom Dean. They were the first couple to be eliminated after losing the first dance-off to Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones.
She had previously been a professional dancer on the Bosnian version of the show. She has also participated in the Christmas Special 3 times: with Larry Lamb in 2022, Dan Snow in 2023 and Billy Monger in 2024.
| Series | Partner | Place | Average Score |
| 15 | Davood Ghadami | 6th | 30.4 |
| 16 | Lee Ryan | 14th | 22.3 |
| 17 | David James | 12th | 17.4 |
| 19 | Dan Walker | 5th | 27.5 |
| 20 | Matt Goss | 13th | 20.8 |
| 22 | Tom Dean | 15th | 21.5 |
| 23 | Chris Robshaw | 13th | 19.0 |
Highest and Lowest scoring per dance
| Dance | Partner | Highest | Partner | Lowest |
| American Smooth | Davood Ghadami | 35 | David James | 16 |
| Argentine Tango | Davood Ghadami | |||
| Cha-Cha-Cha | Davood Ghadami | 27 | Lee Ryan | |
| Charleston | Davood Ghadami | Dan Walker | ||
| Couple's Choice | Dan Walker | 28 | ||
| Dance-a-thon | Davood Ghadami | 4 | ||
| Foxtrot | Dan Walker | 21 | David James | 17 |
| Jive | Davood Ghadami | 29 | David James | |
| Paso Doble | Davood Ghadami | 35 | David James | |
| Quickstep | David James | 28 | Matt Goss | 20 |
| Rumba | Dan Walker | 31 | Davood Ghadami | 25 |
| Salsa | Chris Robshaw | 24 | ||
| Samba | Davood Ghadami | 25 | Chris Robshaw | 14 |
| Tango | Dan Walker | 31 | Tom Dean | 23 |
| Viennese Waltz | Davood Ghadami | 29 | Chris Robshaw | 16 |
| Waltz | Davood Ghadami | 35 | Lee Ryan | 22 |
- numbers indicate Nadiya and her partner were at the top of the leaderboard that week.
- numbers indicate Nadiya and her partner were at the bottom of the leaderboard that week.