Tyler West And Molly Rainford's Love Story: Inside Their Strictly Romance

The Kiss FM DJ and the EastEnders actor first met on the 2022 series of the BBC ballroom show.
Molly Rainford and Tyler West attend the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny back in June
Molly Rainford and Tyler West attend the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny back in June
Karwai Tang via Getty Images

Strictly Come Dancing has a long (and sometimes complicated) history when it comes to bringing people together romantically.

Among those who have found love after appearing on the show include Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton, Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff and Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell.

But the show’s most recent love story has seen 2022 contestants Molly Rainford and Tyler West embark on a romance, which is seemingly going from strength to strength.

Here’s the lowdown on the show’s newest couple on the block...

First meeting

The pair first met after both being cast on the 2022 series of Strictly, during which former CBBC star Molly was paired up with professional dancer Carlos Gu, while Kiss FM DJ Tyler danced with Dianne Buswell.

Molly and Tyler met after joining the cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2022
Molly and Tyler met after joining the cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2022
BBC

Tyler was eliminated seventh, with Molly made it all the way to the final, eventually losing out on the Glitterball Trophy to Hamza Yassin.

While Tyler and Molly were on the show, there were no hints of a romance between them, with Molly even linked in the press to professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin – something she denied at the time.

“I think it’s because we’re similar ages, we just get on well. I don’t have any time to date. I’m too busy,” she told Good Morning Britain last October.

When Molly and Tyler reunited with other cast members for the Strictly tour in early 2023, it seems sparks began to fly...

Romance rumours first emerge

The Sun first suggested things had turned romantic between Molly and Tyler back in January, after “flirting” backstage during the series.

They were then spotted holding hands during an evening out on February.

While the pair didn’t comment on the rumours at the time, they alluded to a romance some weeks later and, naturally, they used a Friends reference to do it.

Looking very cosy during a train journey together, they were seen in a TikTok video lip-syncing to a scene from Friends, in which Rachel and Joey discover that they both know about Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship, in an apparent nod to their own.

@tylerwestt

Do you know? 🌚😂❤️ @Molly Rainford #fyp

♬ origineel geluid - friends_forever963

Strictly professional Neil Jones commented on the video: “This makes me so happy.”

Molly and Tyler make it official and go public

Days after posting their TikTok, Tyler – who is a showbiz correspondent on ITV’s Lorraine – was put on the spot by presenter Lorraine Kelly, who revealed Molly had accompanied him to the studio that morning.

@itvlorraine

😍 "My smile says it all" 😍 @Tyler West confirms his relationship with the gorgeous @Molly Rainford live on Lorraine 🥹 (And it sounds like they have @Dancer Dianne to thank for it all!) #lorraine #itv #tylerwest #mollyrainford #diannebuswell #strictly #newrelationship #announcement #love #smittendating #fyp

♬ original sound - Lorraine

“My smile says it all,” Tyler told the host. “Everybody’s been so lovely about it.”

Asked what attracted her to him, Molly said: “I think Dianne sold him very well to me.”

Tyler beams as Molly makes EastEnders debut

Tyler has been every inch the proud boyfriend since Molly made her debut in EastEnders as Anna Knight back in May.

Molly recently joined the cast of EastEnders as Anna, who is part of the new Knight family
Molly recently joined the cast of EastEnders as Anna, who is part of the new Knight family
BBC

“I am like her biggest fan. She makes my heart smile with it all,” he said on Lorraine. “I am so proud of her and she deserves it and I feel like it’s a real big moment.”

Tyler has even floated the idea of sharing the screen with her in the soap, recently telling the Evening Standard: “I would be all over it! EastEnders is something that me and my family have always watched, like, my whole family as well, my nana, everybody, so for it to become such a real thing for me is mad!

“To go behind the scenes and to pick her up from work, I get starstruck every day!”

Romantic holidays

Since going public with their romance, the couple feature heavily on their social media pages, where they have also documented romantic getaways together.

They enjoyed a mini-break to Disneyland Paris back in April, before packing their suitcases for a sun-drenched trip to Marbella in Spain with a group of friends in July.

More recently, the couple have been living it up in Jamaica, which Tyler called their “first holiday”.

Keeping up those Strictly skills

It’s been nearly a year since they both made their debut on the Strictly dancefloor, and it seems both Tyler and Molly have still got the skills they learned on the show.

In a recent Instagram video, they showed off the steps to a range of dances – including the Jive, Rumba, Cha Cha and Waltz – around the living room, before joking that’s not how they always dance in real life.

Tyler also told the Evening Standard: “We’re always dancing, we’re always vibing.”

He added: “Me and Molly are either the most active couple or the laziest. I’ll either be in bed watching series upon series, or be out and about going on runs or going to the gym.

“It’s such a like either zero to one hundred, it’s either one or the other.”

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