‘Strictly Come Dancing’s Camilla Dallerup’s split from Brendan Cole was like a "mini-death".
The dancing professional appeared alongside her then-fiancé in the first series of the dancing competition in 2004, where Brendan was partnered with newscaster, Natasha Kaplinsky.
Speaking about her split, Camilla said: "It was like a mini-death. You go through the arc of grief, anger, bitterness.
"My best friend and dancing professionally with Brendan had both gone. That felt pretty scary. It seemed like everything I’d ever wanted and worked for had been removed, just like that."
The 40-year-old model – who is now married to actor Kevin Sacre – recalled how pleased Brendan was to be partnered with the 42-year-old newsreader.
She continued: "Brendan had been over the moon when he’d been paired with Natasha.
"It’s no understatement to say that he literally skipped through the door when he came home that day."
The 38-year-old dancer then made the bold decision to refuse to share a dressing room with Camilla.
She shared: "Looking back now, something in me died that day. To be honest, that was the moment I lost the Brendan I thought I knew so well…
"He’d lost interest in me. He was more than happy, though, to get up in the morning to watch Natasha reading the news!"
Camilla also admitted that she felt like someone had "plunged a dagger through my heart" when she saw Brendan and Natasha about to share a good luck kiss ahead of the first show of the series in 2004.
She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "Most of us were lined up to make our entrance down the big flight of stairs that led to the dance floor, when I saw that Brendan and Natasha were still backstage beneath the stairs on which I was standing.
"As I looked down, Brendan looked up and, when our eyes met, he pulled Natasha behind the curtain. As he was leaning towards her, I knew that he was going to give her a good luck kiss. But it wasn’t the kiss; it was the secrecy, the fact he’d pulled her behind the curtain that made it feel as if someone had plunged a dagger through my heart."
‘Strictly Come Dancing’s Camilla Dallerup: My split from Brendan Cole was a ‘mini-death’
