Inside Janette Manrara's relationships with two Strictly hunks before finding love with Aljaž Skorjanec
Strictly Come Dancing fans can't get enough of Janette Manrara and her husband Aljaž Skorjanec, who struck up a romance whilst dancing on Strictly Come Dancing over a decade ago. The pair married in 2017 and now share adorable daughter Lyra Rose, who was born in July last year.
While Janette, 40, and Aljaž, 34, are Strictly couple goals, it's easy to forget that Janette previously dated a few other professionals on the BBC show before finding love with her now-husband. Before Aljaz, Janette had short-lived flings with Strictly veterans Artem Chigvintsev and Pasha Kovalev. Back in 2010, Janette was reportedly in a relationship with Artem - who joined Strictly that year before leaving in 2014.
Prior to that, sparks flew between Janette and Pasha, who was in the professional cast for eight series until 2018. A source told The Mirror back in 2013: "She enjoyed a brief romance with Pasha. None of the relationships went very far or lasted for a long time. Now they are all good friends and can laugh and joke about it, which is fortunate because they will be working very close together. Janette is obviously a very attractive woman but she's very into Aljaž now."
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Both Artem and Pasha have moved on themselves, with Pasha finding romance with his celebrity partner Rachel Riley during the 2013 series of Strictly. They married in 2019 and now share two daughters together.
Meanwhile, Artem married his Dancing with the Stars celebrity partner Nikki Bella in August 2022 after welcoming a son together in 2020. Nikki filed for divorce in September this year.
In August, Artem was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, however the dancer was not charged. He said in a statement in September: "I am incredibly relieved and grateful that the domestic violence charges against me have been dropped. This has been an extremely difficult time for me. I am thankful that the truth has prevailed."
Janette - who was born in Miami - started her TV career on US series So You Think You Can Dance before joining the cast of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. After leaving the show in 2020, she was announced as the new host of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, taking over from Zoe Ball.
Janette now hosts the show with former contestant Fleur East, who replaced Rylan as Janette's co-presenter last year. With a thriving career and a budding family life, Janette has her hands full - and told OK! in an exclusive chat earlier this year that it has been difficult raising Lyra without any immediate family nearby.
"It’s very difficult,” said Janette, whose family are based in Miami while Aljaž's are in Slovenia. “We have no one to help, so it’s all about future planning as much as possible. It’s a massive juggle. Right now, Aljaž and I are trying to figure out how we’re going to make it work with him being back on Strictly full time. His schedule is basically seven days a week and the hours are here, there and everywhere.
"I know how hard it is doing Strictly , let alone doing it when you’re a parent. Lyra goes to nursery a couple of days a week, but planning childcare when Aljaž and I are both working and she is not in nursery can be very complicated; especially when we have no family around to help."
