DIVERSITY star Perri Kiely has revealed his mum Christine was desperate for him to find love before he met his first girlfriend at the age of 24.
The dancer, now 25, hit it off with telly production assistant Laura Smith while starring on Dancing On Ice in 2020.
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It wasn't until August that the pair made their relationship official - but they've not looked back since.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Perri said: "It’s crazy to be honest. I don’t think I was expecting to find Laura at all, actually.
"I met her on Dancing on Ice and after we kind of stayed in touch and ever since then it’s been going from strength to strength, which is really cool."
The smitten pair stayed together during lockdown along with Perri's "chubby" pug Barry.
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Although he finished as a runner-up to Joe Swash on Dancing On Ice, Perri described it as a "win win" due to meeting Laura.
"I loved every moment and also coming out and having a girlfriend is crazy," he said. "She’s literally my first ever girlfriend, which is insane, but my mum is super happy because she’s been desperate for me to find someone for ages."
Diversity star Ashley Banjo is married with two kids and his brother Jordan also has two children and plans to marry his fiancée next year.
So has Perri been inspired to take things to the next level in his own relationship?
He said: "That’s deffo moving fast, I won’t lie, but I’m pretty great at uncle duties at the moment.
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"You have the kid, you play with the kid, and when they cry or they poop, you just hand it back, it’s kind of a win win."
Perri is eyeing a return to the ITV competition next year - but this time with his Diversity boys in tow.
He revealed the troupe had been due to perform on this year's show, but pandemic rules meant they weren't all allowed in the studio at the same time.
However, if it's business as usual next January, don't be surprised to see a special performance.
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Perri said: "I would love to do a Diversity Dancing on Ice performance. I think it would be really really cool, just to get all of us on the ice.
"We was supposed to this year. We was gonna get ready for a Diversity Dancing on Ice performance, but obviously because of everything that was going on we didn’t get round to it, y’know. A certain amount of people in venues and stuff. Fingers crossed next year if we can make it happen, it will."
During lockdown Perri reached a creative peak, filming dozens and dozens of TikTok dance routines that have been watched by millions of people.
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It's helped him hone his choreography skills even more and pushed him to new heights.
He said: "One thing I’m super grateful to lockdown for is I feel for the first time ever I have really just done what I wanted.
"I’m so busy shooting all over the place, recording different videos with the boys, putting content out, this is the only time it was just me for a bit. Everything I was putting out was me in my rawest form. I probably excelled one of the most I have."
He has now teamed up with Samsung to share his top tips for dancing like a pro, after a study found 15 per cent of adults took up the discipline in lockdown.
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He'll be hosting a virtual tutorial on May 4 teaching people some of the most popular dance moves on TikTok including The Woah, The Cosby Walk and The Swagg Bounce.
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He said: "Samsung have hit the nail on the head with this. It’s super perfect you know, it’s almost me sharing my ticks and tips to help people kind of do what I have been doing when it comes to creating dance content and putting it out on social media. All the things I’ve learned I get to share with people. I get to use the camera on this amazing phone they gave me the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G.”
Diversity’sPerriKielywill be hosting a virtual tutorial on UK’s trending dances available on theSamsung KX Hubfrom Tuesday 4thMay, shot on the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Diversity star Perri Kiely's girlfriend Laura wears an engagement ring as they cuddle up
