Sophie Ellis-Bextor returning to Strictly despite show putting strain on her marriage

Sophie and Richard have been married since 2005. (Image: GETTY)

Sophie Ellis-Bextor once admitted her relationship with her husband suffered during her Strictly Come Dancing stint. Richard Jones, who is also a musician, began attending counselling sessions while his wife competed for the Glitterball Trophy in 2013.

Sophie, 45, is set to return to the BBC flagship show tonight (October 20) and will be performing live before another celebrity couple is given the boot. The move comes more than a decade after she competed on the show beside professional partner Brendan Cole.

After coming fourth in series 11 of Strictly, the mum-of-five returned to compete in the 2014 Christmas special, this time placing as a runner-up with Aljaž Škorjanec. In her 2021 memoir Spinning Plates, Sophie confessed her and Richard’s marriage was under strain during the competition.

“Richard started to struggle with my involvement from the launch show onwards,” she penned. “It was so hard for him that I can remember wondering if they’d ever had a contestant walk away from the show before they’d even danced their first dance.

“The physical closeness was something I struggled with throughout, but, by the end, a lot of things I had thought were odd – like the ‘couples’ holding hands or gripping on to each other for the results show – I was used to, and it seemed as if, by doing those things, I had crossed another Strictly hurdle.”

Sophie admitted her husband 'struggled' while she was competing with Brendan Cole on Strictly. (Image: INSTAGRAM)

As reported by The Times, the multi-platinum recording artist doubled down on how she found physical intimacy behind the scenes of Strictly uncomfortable.

“The dancers would chat about whatever choreography we were finding hard and then Brendan would grab one of the female dancers to get her to demonstrate to me what I should be doing — he’d flip her around, and she’d end up with her leg around his head or whatever,” she said.

It’s stated that Sophie would try to explain to the dancer, 48, that this practice “felt strange” to those residing outside the professional dance bubble.

Earlier this summer, comments made by Sophie following the conclusion of her Strictly journey went viral again.

Addressing their resurfacing, she took to Instagram and wrote: “This week there’s been a resurfacing of a chapter in my autobiography Spinning Plates where I talk about my time in Strictly.

“Richard put it so well in his post on the subject, I wanted to share it. He wrote the post 3 years ago, but the words still ring true.”

The 'Murder on the Dancefloor' singer placed fourth on her series of the BBC staple. (Image: GETTY)

She then reposted a caption written by her husband, which read: “I’ve had a lot of messages regarding the press stories about how Strictly affected our marriage when Sophie was a contestant back in 2013.

“It’s all good - it was 8 years ago and we’ve had 2 more kids since then! I encouraged Sophie to be open about it in her book because it’s in the past now and we feel that there’s a lot that could be made easier for couples if the show gave them more support.”

Richard went on to say that he would often find solace in the partners of other celebrity couples.

“It’s a very surreal experience and such a big show that I couldn’t get away from it all - I was out trying to promote The Feelings 4th album Boy Cried Wolf at the time and all anyone wanted to talk to me about was if I was worried my wife would leave me. It begins to wear you down,” he continued.

Richard credits undergoing a course of therapy allowed him to take the pressure off of Sophie so that she could “focus” and “enjoy the show”.

He also wanted to encourage anyone who was struggling with something to ask for help in the future before claiming Strictly was a “happy memory” for him and his wife.

“Sophie was incredible on the show and I couldn’t have been prouder,” he added.

“It really is very attractive to see your wife looking so beautiful on the dance floor and remember - she went home with me at the end of the night! Ultimately it actually brought us a lot closer together. No regrets!”

Tune in to Strictly Come Dancing’s results show on Sunday, October 20, at 7.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.