Strictly Come Dancing star secretly marries long term partner

Strictly Come Dancing star Rhys Stephenson announced that he had secretly married his girlfriend, Beth Johnson, on Monday. 

The CBBC presenter, 30, who was paired with pro dancer Nancy Xu on the hit show in 2021, shared a series of sweet photos from their big day to Instagram. 

Rhys uploaded a fun clip as he performed a ‘secret handshake’ with Beth as they celebrated getting married. 

The TV personality wore a grey checked three piece suit while a white shirt and floral patterned tie. 

Beth was every inch the glowing bride in a stunning off-the-shoulder lace gown with a fishtail skirt. 

Beth shared: ‘Yesterday I married my best friend❤️ thank you all, for the most beautiful messages and all the love. 

‘We couldn’t have asked for a wedding more magical and special ❤️ love the Stephensons.’

Meanwhile, Rhys captioned his clip: ‘When your friend secretly catches you doing your pre wedding handshake with your new wife.’

Rhys was congratulated by his Strictly Come Dancing pals after he announced his engagement to his partner Beth in November. 

The presenter posted a heartfelt picture on Instagram of the two of them gushing over the glitzy engagement ring.

Rhys was grinning cheek to cheek as Beth flouted the green diamond jewel after saying yes in the serene Cayman Islands.

The Blue Peter star captioned the post: ‘She said yes! #caymanislands #engagement.’

Fellow Strictly stars flooded his post as host Tess Daly, judge Oti Mabuse and dancer Neil Jones took to the social media platform to congratulate the happy couple.

Oti penned: ‘AAAAAAAAAHHHHH CONGRATULATIONS. WE LOVE TO SEE IT.’

Tess commented: ‘Congratulations!’, while Neil wrote: ‘Omg congratulations’.

Other stars also took the time to share their happiness on the post as BBC Radio 1 star, Lauren Layfield said: ‘CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!’ and BBC Radio 4 host Lauren Laverne wrote: ‘Congratulations!!’.

Beth works in TV design and the pair have kept their romance out of the spotlight with them making very few appearances on each other’s social media pages. 

While it is not clear when him and Beth first started dating, the TV sensation name dropped Beth during an episode of Strictly in 2021 – that was the first time she was ever connected to the twinkled-toed star. 

It comes after over a year since the star revealed his ‘one lesson learned from life’.

In March 2022, Rhys said he learned that ‘it’s okay for men to cry in public’ after he put on a tearful display when Claudia Winkleman revealed his father’s recorded video message because he couldn’t be at the competition.

He said: ‘It was important to show that being vulnerable is not a weakness for a man. It’s a good thing, it’s healing. And not just being a man but being a black man. I think it’s great that young black boys saw that.

‘There’s a feeling that if you’re a black man, the world can be tougher on you, so you need to be tougher, too. And I think it was important for me to be up there as myself, and be open about that.’

Rhys was the eleventh star to be eliminated from the BBC dancing show in 2021.

The TV presenter lost out on a place in the final after going head to head with Bake Off star John Whaite in the dreaded dance-off.

After performing two routines in the semi-final, Rhys and his partner Nancy Xu performed their Samba to It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera) by Michael Bublé.

John and his partner Johannes performed their Jive to Higher Power by Coldplay in a bid to impress the judges and secure their place in the final. 

After both couples had danced, all four judges unanimously chose to save John and Johannes.