The Strictly curse has claimed many a victim over the years, and former Emmerdale star Lewis Cope is the latest to suffer its effects.
The star, who competed on Strictly Come Dancing with pro Katya Jones last year, has called time on his romance with Pilates instructor and actress Rachel Lopez.
Fans had noticed that the two had stopped posting each other on social media in recent weeks.
Lewis had previously denied that any tensions were raised over his on-screen partnership with Katya on the dance competition show.
‘Over the years I’ve had to kiss a lot of people on stage or onscreen, as an actor.
‘She’s used to me kissing boys actually, but it hasn’t been a problem,
‘Katya and Rachel have met, it’s never been a conversation between us,’ he previously told the Sun on Sunday.
An insider told The Sun: ‘They had a great relationship but some good things must come to an end.
‘It will be a shock for their supporters but they think the decision is for the best.’
The last post of the two was a carousel of clips from a sun drenched holiday they shared back in August, with Rachel previously having shared pictures of a further holiday they took together during July.
Representatives for Lewis and Rachel have been reached out to for comment.
Lewis was most recently seen in Channel 5’s Forever Home and spoke about how much he enjoyed filming in his home region of the North East.
‘Obviously, the original was set in Cork, wasn’t it? And then the adaptation was set in Northumberland,” he said.
‘Sometimes it actually looks quite period. I remember watching episode one and thinking, because it is set in the present day, that it almost could be from any time or any place.
‘And being from the North East, it was great to be back there and filming, and hopefully there’s a lot more stuff getting made in the North East, too.’
Who was Nicky Miligan in Emmerdale?
Nicky arrived as a seemingly sweet-natured and charming live-in nanny at Home Farm, and immediately set his sights on wooing Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham).
It soon transpired though that he was the son of Caleb Miligan (William Ash), who himself was the son of Frank Tate (Norman Bowler), and had concocted a scheme to reclaim what he felt was his rightful inheritance of the resident Queen of Home Farm, Kim Tate (Claire King), his attempt to seduce Gabby was all a scheme and he was, in fact, gay.
Despite Caleb’s assertions that he accepted Nicky’s sexuality and loved him regardless, he pressured him to end his burgeoning relationship with a guy he’d been seeing and saw to it that Nicky proposed to Gabby; but in private, the weight of the deceit and the cruel plot he’d found himself ensnared in was crushing him, with him entirely lacking his dad’s cruel and vengeful streak.
As the wedding day arrived, Nicky found himself unable to continue manipulating Gabby, and confessed that he was gay and that the wedding was a sham, effectively obliterating his dad’s plan, leading to major issues between father and son, something they never truly recovered from.
Nicky eventually found genuine love with Suni Sharma (Brahmdeo Shannon Ramana), though he found himself wrapped up in another conspiracy when he got in the car with a drunken Ethan Anderson (Emile John), who crashed the car, pulled Nicky to safety and then fled the scene.
Nicky’s volatile mum, Ruby Miligan (Beth Cordingly), emerged in the village and swore revenge on Ethan, deliberately driving into him, running him over and leaving the scene.
Though Ethan survived, he died shortly after, though as a result of an aneurysm and not Ruby’s car attack, but Nicky had decided he couldn’t live in his parent’s world of insidious scheming, revenge and toxicity.
Nicky decided he could no longer stay in the village, desperate to break free of his cruel-natured family, and pressed Suni to leave alongside him, with the couple eventually deciding to escape the mess of the village and relocate to San Francisco.