Caroline Flack: Strictly's Pasha Kovalev breaks silence on former dance partner's death
Strictly Come Dancing star Pasha Kovalev has spoken about dancing with his late dancing partner Caroline Flack for the first time.
Speaking on a live Q&A with Jewish youth organisation JLGB, the dancer described Flack as an “amazing dancer” who did not believe in her own abilities at first.
“I saw her dancing on the first day of rehearsals, I knew she had a lot of potential dance wise,” Kovalev said, explaining how he tried to encourage her.
“I kept reinforcing that in her. It took us pretty much a few weeks – week seven or eight – when we went to Blackpool.
“After that she started to believe in herself a bit more but not enough to say, ‘Oh yes, I’m going to win this competition. I am the best dancer.’
“She was always saying, ‘Oh this person is dancing so much better and this person is dancing so much better.’”
Kovalev recalled performing one routine with Flack on which they received near-perfect scores. They performed the Charleston to Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might be Giants.
“Even when I think about it, I get goose bumps because Caroline believed in it and really embodied that dance and the character,” Kovalev explained.
“When she was dancing, it was like no one else existed.
Turn a broken heart into art ❤️
A post shared by Caroline (@carolineflack) on Jul 25, 2018 at 5:34am PDT
“It was just her and I in a completely empty room, just dancing for ourselves – even with the audience around us and judges, millions of people watching from home.
“I guess we managed to channel our emotions and feelings into that routine that much we just dissolved in it and that was an unbelievable moment that I will always remember and cherish.”
Flack died by suicide in February; an inquest into her death has been taking place in London this week.
On Wednesday, the former Love Island host’s sister provided a statement in the coroner’s court in which she said that the press and the public found hounding Flack “very entertaining”.
“I believe the shame ... was too much to deal with,” she said.
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