Curtis Pritchard (born 8 February 1996) is an English dancer and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, known for his role as a professional dancer on the Irish version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. In 2019, Pritchard appeared in the fifth series of the British dating reality series ''

Love Island Love Island may refer to: Film * ''Love Island'' (1952 film), an American film directed by Adam Lloyd starring Todd Wathen and Eva Gabor * ''Love Island'' (2014 film), directed by Jasmila Žbanić Music * ''Love Island'' (album), a 1978 album ...

'', finishing in fourth place.

Early life

Pritchard was born on 8 February 1996 in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surroun ...

, England.

Career

''Dancing with the Stars''

In 2017, Pritchard was announced as one of the professional dancers for the first series of Ireland's ''Dancing with the Stars''. He was partnered with model Thalia Heffernan. They were eliminated in week four of the competition, finishing in tenth place. In 2018, Pritchard was partnered with businesswoman Norah Casey. On 21 January, Casey and Pritchard became the first couple to be eliminated from the competition. For the 2019 series, Pritchard was due to be partnered with model Holly Carpenter, but following an attack on 27 December 2018, he was ruled out competing for five weeks. He was replaced by former ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' professional, Trent Whiddon. In November 2019, Pritchard confirmed that he would not return for a fourth series.

Series 1 (2017)

; Celebrity partner : Thalia Heffernan; Average: 19; Place: 10th

Series 2 (2018)

; Celebrity partner : Norah Casey; Average: 16; Place: 11th

Other ventures

In June 2019, Pritchard began appearing as a contestant on the fifth series of the

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial station ...

dating reality series ''

''. In July 2019, it was announced that Pritchard, along with his brother AJ, would appear as guest choreographers on the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

reality series ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. ...

''. In 2020, he appeared in

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

's ''

The Greatest Dancer ''The Greatest Dancer'' is a British dance competition television series created by Simon Cowell and produced by Syco Entertainment. The first BBC programme created by Cowell, ''The Greatest Dancer'' sees previously undiscovered dance acts perf ...

'' as a receptionist. Later that year, it was announced that he would be starring in '' Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion''. In February 2021, it was announced that Pritchard would be making his acting debut in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

'', alongside his brother. He portrayed the role of

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...

; their acting abilities were the subject of widespread criticism.

Personal life

From 2016 Pritchard was in a relationship with fellow ''Dancing with the Stars'' professional dancer, Emily Barker. In early 2019 it was reported the couple were no longer an item. On 27 December 2018, he and his brother AJ, along with two others, were attacked in an "unprovoked assault" on a night out in

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

. He needed an emergency operation to his knee and was unable to appear on ''Dancing with the Stars''. A 20-year-old man was arrested and released. Pritchard began dating Maura Higgins following their appearance together on ''Love Island''. In March 2020, Higgins confirmed that they had split.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Curtis 1996 births Living people British ballroom dancers Love Island (2015 TV series) contestants