Strictly star Nick Knowles' fiancée suffered 'horrible' racist abuse for going out with him

Lingerie designer Katie Dadzie sent "racist abuse" and labelled a "gold-digger" after stepping out with Knowles, making her question whether the relationship was worth it

DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles says his fiancee Katie Dadzie nearly left him after suffering “horrible racist abuse” when she was first pictured alongside him.

The BBC star, currently competing in Strictly Come Dancing says the lingerie designer received comments that are “properly vile” as a result of going out with him, including that she is a "gold-digger". Nick, 62, said Katie - who is 28 years his junior - had been left wondering if it's all worth it. "It's really unpleasant and unfair,” he explained. "Katie's a mum of two, she's super-intelligent, capable, within just eight months her lingerie brand was stocked by Next. But you just get people being properly vile. So you understand when she goes, 'I don't know if I want to be around this.’”

Saying that he didn’t try to talk her around when she had doubts, Knowles admits he is a lot to take on. "People think dating me will be fun, but then I'm away for months on end,” he told The Times. “Or you ask them to go to a premiere; people think it will be amazing, they get their hair done, then suddenly they're standing in front of 40 photographers on a red carpet and it's terrifying. It's not a glamorous experience at all. It's really horrible and intense.”

He was thrilled when she accepted his marriage proposal last year. “In the end we love each other very much,” he claimed. ”You have to be brave. You can't let previous difficulties stop you falling in love, because you close yourself off to the possibility of being happy.”

But Knowles is unhappy about what he sees as a media obsession with his love-life and relationship history, moaning that exes sharing their views on him is no longer relevant.

The presenter says he wishes his former partners would stay in the past. “You get people you went on two dates with ten years ago popping up writing about what it was like going out with me. How is that relevant today? I've had a lot of relationships but I don't think an abnormal amount in 40 years. I chose to be in the spotlight, but the others didn’t. Every marriage, divorce, break-up I've ever had is always dragged up. It's very odd.”

The twice-divorced dad-of-four is concerned about the effect stories have on his kids - two in their 30s from his first marriage, a son aged 10 from his second, plus a 28-year-old son from another relationship.

Knowles has previously joked that there is no chance of the famous Strictly curse striking him - because he’s so exhausted he has barely got the energy to crawl to his car at the end of the day. Since starting his training for the BBC ballroom show with professional partner Luba Mushtuk, he says he has shed more than two stone. "This is much tougher than rugby training. I can feel myself transforming from a very heavy bloke lumbering around the room to somebody who is becoming lighter and more elegant on his feet."

He is hoping people will vote for him because they like the fact he is this year’s have-a-go Dad dancer. "I literally have never danced, I'm knackered from years of rugby injuries, and I'm not shaped like a dancer. If I can do it, everybody can.”

He admits that staying in the competition while Olympian Tom Dean went home at the weekend left him far more relieved than he expected. “Two surprises since I started Strictly are how much I care about getting the dance right, and how much I don't want to let down my family and friends and dance partner.”

Asked to comment on Amanda Abbington’s complaints against Giovanni Pernice from last year’s show, he said: "Look, it's right people are listened to when they make complaints but my experience has been really joyous so far with all the support I could possibly need.”

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