Dani Dyer-Bowen and Nikita Kuzmin to perform samba for Strictly live show debut

Former Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen will perform a samba with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin for her first Strictly Come Dancing live show.

Over the weekend, the 30-year-old TV personality was again paired with Kuzmin, 28, during the launch episode for the BBC One dance programme, after she had to pull out early from last year’s series due to an injury.

The pair will make their live show debut together on Saturday night and perform a samba to Zara Larsson’s Lush Life.

Dani Dyer-Bowen said she is ‘so excited’ (Ian West/PA)

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Speaking on BBC One’s Morning Live she said: “We’re doing the samba to Lush Life by Zara Larrson, which I love Zara Larrson so much, so I’m so excited.

“I just really want to get to week one this time. Like last week, we got past the day that I got injured last year, and I was like, ‘we did it, we got through it!’.

“I just want to have the best time ever because, like I said before, I was so upset. So just to be back, I just want to enjoy the experience.

Dyer-Bowen said she barely remembers Saturday night’s launch episode because she was too excited to be dancing with Kuzmin again.

She said: “It was the best.

“Watching it back, you could see how excited we really was. It was just incredible.

Nikita Kuzmin cried ‘tears of joy’ after learning they were paired together (Ben Whitley/PA)

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“I loved it. I don’t really remember it, so watching it, that was really nice.”

Kuzmin said it was “the most exciting pairing ever” and that they are doing everything they can to make sure Dyer-Bowen does not get injured again.

He added: “We have tape, then we have an ankle brace, then we have a shoe. We do exercises. We are going full out.”

The dancer previously told the Press Association that he cried “tears of joy” after learning they were paired together.

He added: “Not gonna lie, I was worried if she went to somebody else, I was going to get jealous because she’s my partner and if I see her with someone else, I’ll be like, ‘oh my goodness’.”

The reality star, who is the daughter of former EastEnders actor Danny Dyer, said her family are “buzzing” to watch her on the show over the coming weeks and that the cha-cha-cha is the dance she is most excited to perform.

A peak of 5.8 million viewers tuned in to the Strictly Come Dancing launch episode on Saturday night which revealed the pairings for the new series.

According to BBC overnight figures, the episode saw 200,000 more viewers at its peak than last year’s launch show.

The show was also the first for new hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe, who replaced long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who stepped down last year.

Strictly will return for its first live show of the new series next Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.