Strictly Come Dancing star Nikita Kuzmin has had a whirlwind of a series so far after his original partner Dani Dyer was forced to drop out of the show after suffering a devastating training injury, in which she fractured her ankle. Nikita was then paired with a new partner, West End star Amber Davies, at the eleventh hour, immediately before the first live show. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the Ukrainian dancer opened up on the impact of Dani's departure, admitting: "I would say it was really hard.

He continued: "Simply for the human factor of it. Because obviously when you partner up with anyone, the most important part is to connect and to understand the person, and you expect a certain journey. So once Dani got injured, the human factor of just knowing that Dani is injured number one, and she is out of this competition, and we can no longer continue. That was definitely devastating," he confessed.

"But at the same time, everything is meant to be, and Amber just came into my life on a last minute call, and it's just been chaotic ever since, but, but absolutely gorgeous," he smiled.

"I mean all things are meant to be and right now and although that happened to Dani, my goal (now) is Amber's journey.

"This is Amber's season. This is Amber's time to enjoy Strictly. Because you do Strictly only one time in in your life.

"And I wish Dani the speediest recovery. I actually heard from her yesterday. She's doing much, much better, but right now, I'm fully focused on Amber, because she's my partner for this season," he said.

Nikita was speaking just a week before Dani turned out to support him and Amber as they performed a Cha Cha Cha to Break Free by Ariana Grande for icons week on Saturday October 25.

Sadly, they landed in the dreaded dance off for the first time this series despite scoring an impressive 33 points from the judges.

They had to take to dancefloor again along with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley, who performed an American Smooth to Purple Rain by Prince.

Sadly for Jimmy, Nikita and Amber were unanimously saved by all four judges meaning they will perform for Halloween week on November 1. Anton Du Beke - who this week was the judge with the casting vote - said that he would have chosen to save Amber and Nikita should he have been required to vote.