As one of the OG professionals who joined the show from the first series in 2004, Flavia Cacace was one of the country's most popular personalities. Outside of the show she and her dance partner Vincente Simone regularly sold out tours. Then, to all intents and purposes, she just disaappeared. She and Vincente left Strictly in 2013 to focus on their own shows but from 2018 she was barely heard from. Speaking exclusively to she revealed she was suffering from burnout and had to take a step back.

"I've had a long dance career, TV, West End, tours, UK tours, competitions before I even went on Strictly. I've danced for, you know, over 25 years, and then in 2018 I was a little bit burnt out. A little bit kind of tired, mentally and physically. So I stopped touring and took a little bit of a break. And so six years down the line, last year, I started to get itchy feet again, and I've managed to keep up teaching, and I've been doing workshops, I've done corporate events, but I really started to feel like I wanted to get back into performing," she said explaining why she has picked now to return to the stage with fellow former Strictly star .

Flavia is joining Oti this June for her Viva Carnival shows. With Flavia widely acknowledged as the Queen of the Argentine Tango and Oti being the Queen of the Samba it promises to be a powerhouse party pairing. Explaining how it came about Flavia, now 45, said she had started contacting people to tell them she was ready to return to the stage and Oti's offer came up.

"I just woke up one day and I had this massive feeling like in my gut, that I had to go back and I needed to start scratching that dancing itch again. I just felt it in the same way that I had felt that I needed a break in 2018. I just woke up one morning, and I just knew it was the right thing to do.

"Obviously, after six years, it's quite challenging to go back so I started by just contacting friends, colleagues, people I've danced with before. I went to London and started just meeting up with people and dancing. I got back onto social media, putting some little videos out.

"Before you knew it I had quite a lot of support. I had lots of lovely messages, which I think gave me a real boost and made it feel like, yes, it was the right thing to come back. Then randomly I was approached by Oti's producer. So I guess the idea is, with Oti being so fabulous and flamboyant very out there, I can bring something very different to what she can bring and together, it will be a really good unison. So that's how it's kind of come about. And that's kind of the premise, I think, of what's going to happen. I think my boundaries will be pushed, and I can bring something to Oti as well and push her boundaries, and we can create something a little bit unique," she said.

With this new lease of life for performing it seems prudent to ask if she misses Strictly. she wistfully admits: "With anything like that, where you put your heart and soul into anything, I think this would apply to lots of people that even normal office jobs, when you come away from it, you really do need to have complete break from it, because your heart's too much still in there.

"So when I first left, I had to really shut off from it, because I'm quite a sensitive person so I couldn't watch it. If I heard the music my heart would start going. Even if somebody mentioned the show - it was really tough. It was a really difficult decision to leave, but at the same time, I do believe you got to go with your feeling.

"And I knew that it was the right time, and it was just when we were getting opportunities to go into theatre. And I just won, you the year before, so everything felt like it was the right time to leave. And also things on the show were changing. The way the show was evolving was a little bit different to when I first joined. It (had been) very much about professional couples. Very much dance partnerships.

"And then they started introducing more individual professionals and partnering them up. So the whole system started to evolve and change, and rightly so. I definitely think we left it at the right time, and it gave us the opportunity to really put our head into the theatre world, which was really my favourite thing that I've done in my my career.

"But, I mean, the show keeps growing. I still feel like, you know, we were part of the golden years when Bruce (Forsyth) was there, when it was building, when people were really getting into it and and it was still really nice to feel like a part of it," she said.

The eight date Viva Carnival tour with Oti Mabuse and special guest Flavia Cacace begins in Sheffield on June 12 and ends in Bath on June 26. Full details and tickets are available .