Strictly’s Aljaz Skorjanec has made a major move with wife Janette Manrara as he dropped a hint about his future on the BBC show.
The Slovenian dancer, 35, and his wife Jannette, 41, moved into their ‘dream home’ in Cheshire two years ago after deciding to leave London to start a family.
But despite the property being everything they’d hoped for, the couple – who share daughter Lyra, one – have been forced to relocate back down south.
In a new interview, the lovebirds opened up about the ordeal, with Aljaz – who returned to Strictly last year – describing the move as ‘absolutely awful’.
He told the Mirror: ‘Moving home is one of the last things you want to do, let’s be honest, and it doesn’t matter how you do it, if you get someone to help you with it, if you do it yourself.
‘The reality is you’re going to be looking at cardboard for a foreseeable amount of time.’
She said Aljaz’s return to Strictly and her own bi-weekly work commute during the autumn and winter made it incredibly challenging to maintain a balanced family life.
Strictly’s Aljaz Skorjanec has made a major move with wife Janette Manrara as he dropped a hint about his future on the BBC show
The Slovenian dancer, 35, and his wife Jannette, 41, moved into their ‘dream home’ in Cheshire two years ago after deciding to leave London to start a family (pictured with their daughter Lyra)
She explained: ‘We tried it this year with me commuting to London for It Takes Two and Aljaz staying down in London for the whole series of Strictly. In retrospect, we spent some very, very minimal time together as a family.
‘Lyra and I were traveling up and down twice a week, staying in hotel rooms to try and make it work.’
Janette also hinted that Aljaz is keen to return to Strictly once again this year but said he is still waiting to hear whether he will be in the 2025 line-up.
She said they have decided to move back to London for the sake of Lyra’s well-being, predicting that Aljaz will soon be returning to Strictly.
Aljaz is currently anxiously waiting for the announcement of the 2025 Strictly line-up with his fellow professional dancers.
Last year, pro dancer Kai Widdrington was forced to step down due to the low number of female celebrities taking part.
He still participated in the group dances but was unable to compete in the main show.
The 2024 Strictly line-up marked a historic first with only six women competing against nine men.
The male-heavy line-up came after bullying allegations surfaced, with Amanda Abbington and Zara McDermott sharing their negative experiences from rehearsals.
Janette revealed that Aljaz’s return to Strictly and her own bi-weekly work commute during the autumn and winter made it incredibly challenging to maintain a balanced family life
She told the Mirror: ‘We tried it this year with me commuting to London for It Takes Two and Aljaz staying down in London for the whole series of Strictly’ (pictured together at Christmas)
Aljaz stepped down from Strictly in 2022 but returned last year after Giovanni Pernice left due to a misconduct probe.
The dancer – who was the first to ever be invited back – insisted that he ‘replaced nobody’ as he opened up about his decision to return to the dancefloor.
Speaking to the Mirror, he confessed: ‘I replaced nobody. I felt like coming back. I decided myself to step away, and then I came back into my own dancing shoes.
‘And I’m still doing Strictly exactly the same way as I did before I left. And I’m really happy. I’m proud of it.’
Leaving the show in March 2022, Aljaž wanted time off to embrace fatherhood.
He continued: ‘I sort of made that conscious decision, as soon as she fell pregnant, that I’m going to put everything else on hold.
‘And it was actually advice from someone really close to me, who said that careers come and go, but time doesn’t.’
Read the full article here
