Nick Knowles says fiance has questioned their relationship for this ‘horrible’ reason

‘Strictly’ star is engaged to lingerie business owner Katie Dadzie

Nick Knowles has revealed that his fiance has sometimes wondered if their relationship is worth it because of the negative attention she receives.

The 62-year-old Strictly Come Dancing star is engaged to lingerie business owner Katie Dadzie, 34.

Knowles said that he avoids the pair of them being photographed because Dadzie receives “horrible racist abuse” every time a picture appears. She has also been called a “gold digger” on her personal Instagram account.

“It’s really unpleasant and unfair,” Knowles said in a recent interview with The Times. “Katie’s a mum of two, she’s super-intelligent, capable, within just eight months her lingerie brand was stocked by Next. But you just get people being properly vile. So you understand when she goes, ‘I don’t know if I want to be around this.’”

Knowles said he would never try to talk her ground, but in the end, the couple “love each other very much.”

The DIY SOS presenter and former I’m A Celebrity... contestant, who has been married twice before and has four children from three previous relationships, said he still believes in love. “You have to be brave,” he said. “You can’t let previous difficulties stop you falling in love, because you close yourself off to the possibility of being happy.”

But he also finds it “very odd” that his previous relationships are often rehashed and dissected. “Every marriage, divorce, break-up I’ve ever had is always dragged up,” he added. “You get people you went on two dates with 10 years ago popping up writing about what it was like going out with me. How is that relevant today?”

He claimed it was unfair because, while he “chose to be in the spotlight... the others didn’t.”

Nick Knowles dancing with Strictly partner Luba Mushtuk (BBC/Guy Levy)

Knowles is partnered with professional dancer Luba Mushtuk on this season of Strictly. He said his experience has been “really joyous so far with all the support I could possibly need.”

Knowles was recently caught making a funny confession to his dance partner during Saturday’s live show.

A “hidden” microphone captured the DIY SOS host telling Mushtuk “This is boring”.

The 62-year-old presenter made the jokey comment as the pair acted out the beginning of their dance routine to Blur’s Park Life.

Appearing on the Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two on 2 October, Knowles explained how the pair carry out random acting scenes in a bid to bring their routines to life.