"She asked, 'What if I fall?
And life whispered, Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?"
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May we always believe that we are enough.
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I'm a little choked for words. But I'd like to say thank you to the phenomenal audience who applauded our dance last night, who cheered me along when I stood in the spotlight on my own, who felt every heartbeat, every footstep and every breath of our connection.
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And to all of you who voted and carried @julian_caillon and I to the Semi Finals. Words cannot describe the gratitude I have for every single one of you.
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Simply thank you, with all my heart.
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Julian - you are the best and this journey is everything it is, because of you. What an achievement for your debut season, as well. It is an honour to dance our way to the semi finals with you.
❤️🙏🏽✨️🧿🦋
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Ps - what a birthday week! ✨️
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#semifinals #strictlycomedancing25 #teambalian
Only one day until the 1st LIVE show of Strictly Come Dancing.
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Every part of my body aches ‐ in the best possible way - but week two has been awesome. I have LOVED learning the Samba even when it was a little challenging. But the choreography is thrilling and sassy, and @julian_caillon is the perfect teacher... the perfect dance partner.
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We laughed lots today and towards end of the day it felt gorgeous as we just danced our routine. No pressure no expectation, and that's when I realised our Samba routine was in my bones, and whatever happens on the night, I am going to hold on to that feeling.
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It's been 5 years since I was last on stage, and this time I'm speaking with my feet! I am off the scale nervous, like incredibly nervous, but I'm also excited to show you what we've been up to.
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@julian_caillon , I am really looking forward to dancing the Samba with you! Here's to our first dance on the Strictly dance floor this Saturday, and here's to your season debut as a Pro 💃🕺🥂
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Ps - this is the photoshoot that keeps on giving 🤭 Thank you @radiotimes .
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And I hope you've all been enjoying my tiktoks. You've Julian to thank for that 😂 and thank you to every single one of you whom have sent messages of love and support.
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To all of you supporting #TeamBalian... you are AWESOME ❤️
#TeamBalian #bbcstrictly
#bbcstrictlycomedancing2025 🧿🙏🏽
Since you all loved my last photo dump so much, here is another one ✨📸
A week spent with friends, doing things that have made my soul sing 🥰 from splattering paint to learning more about the Samurai at the British Museum.
Let me know if you’re enjoying these photo dumps and I will keep them up ❤️
#Eastenders #Art #StrictlyComeDancing #Friendships #BritishMuseum Samurai @vickypattison@shiv_jalota@kedistudiolondon@britishmuseum
Life lately 🗑️✨
A little photo dump capturing a very busy few weeks, although we did manage to squeeze in a little trip to Tenerife which was very much needed ☀️ the sun just makes me so much happier!
Swipe through to see what I’ve been getting up to.
#Eastenders #SukEve #DanceLessons #Holiday
I couldn’t let today pass without recognising #InternationalDanceDay and to celebrate here’s some unseen videos from my time in @bbcstrictly 💃🏾🪩
Last year I felt like the luckiest lady in the world when I got asked to be a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, a show I have been such a huge fan of ever since I can remember, I adored every single week, learning new routines, getting to wear all of the fabulous costumes, and even, unbelievably the dance off’s (it meant I got to dance again!). It’s a journey I just haven’t been able to give up, and as you know have been continuing with #BalBeyondTheBallroom.
Not only was it fun, a fantastic chance to make great friends, but it also gave me something I needed, but wasn’t expecting to find on the Strictly dance floor; the chance to heal.
As I’ve shared before, I lost my beautiful mum, very unexpectedly after her battle with Ovarian Cancer and as anyone who has lost a parent will know, it’s heartbreaking every single day, but dancing gave me a passion, which in turn has helped me on my healing journey.
So I want to celebrate dance today, and everyday - one of the most powerful things I have ever done and I will forever be grateful to Strictly for helping me find my passion 🤍✨
#LearnToDance #StrictlyComeDancing #Dance
What a night last night at the DIVA Awards 2026 🏆🏳️🌈✨
It was lovely to attend with @heatherpeaceofficial celebrating SukEve and the whole community.
I also won an award, which I really wasn’t expecting! I won Highly Commended Ally of the Year, I came second place to Jolyon Maugham, a barrister; founder and director of the Good Law Project.
It was such an honour to attend the awards, hear inspiring stories, and how we can all affect change to support the community. An uplifting event made even more special because of Lesbian Visibility Week, thank you so much to the @DivaCharitableTrust Awards @diversityriley & the fabulous @ladyphyll for having us 🥰
#DIVAAwards #LesbianVisibilityWeek #SukEve #Eastenders #LGBTQIAAlly
Outfit @reiss
Grateful 💗✨☁️
How beautiful is this trend featuring @lilbieber ’s song Everything Hallelujah.
What I love about it so much is how even in today’s society, when everything is faster, more forgettable, more disposable, is that it’s given everyone a moment to slow down, and remember the things that they’re grateful for.
For me, I have so much to be grateful for, and these are just a few of them. From playing the powerhouse that is Suki Panesar in @bbceastenders , to marrying Eve and becoming Suki Panesar-Unwin, and of course my whole family there, to achieving one of my dreams being on @BBCStrictly and all of the friends I made there, and now continuing my love and passion of learning to dance. And of course, the thing I am most grateful in life for, my family and friends, the best support system I could ask for, the ones who make me smile everyday.
The world is a scary place at times, but this gives us a moment to focus in on the positives for ourselves ❤️
#Hallelujah #Eastenders #LesbianVisibilityWeek #StrictlyComeDancing #JustinBieber
Argentine Tango Beginners Course complete ✅🪩✨
Ahhhh I can’t believe I have finished the course🤩 By now everyone knows exactly what Strictly Come Dancing meant for me. I had the most life changing experience and not continuing would have been criminal. These classes with Leandro and Maria have kept my passion for dance alive, and it’s been incredible to strip it right back to the basics too, finessing, polishing and elaborating on everything I learnt during my time on Strictly.
Thank you to all of you, for continuing to follow me on this journey, I have loved vlogging it for you each week and hopefully you have all enjoyed it too!
Don’t worry Bal Beyond the Ballroom isn’t finished, there’s more to come as nothing can stop me dancing, now! 💃🏾
#BalBeyondTheBallroom #StrictlyComeDancing #ArgentineTango #Tango #DanceClasses
Another week, another episode of Bal Beyond the Ballroom for you all 💃🏾🪩
This week it’s the penultimate class of the Argentine Tango Beginners Class - I honestly cannot believe how quickly this course has gone 😯 but I’m so thrilled I continued with the classes. Strictly Come Dancing was such a special time for me, and carrying on with the learning has been everything I needed and more.
But of course Bal Beyond The Ballroom won’t be stopping after next week; I will be continuing to learn, continuing to grow and polish and going to different classes (as well as the Argentine Tango Improver Class) that I can share with you all.
For now though, here’s week 7, a week of learning the sandwich step, as well as polishing everything we’ve learnt so far 🤩
#ArgentineTango #DanceClasses #StrictlyComeDancing #BalBeyondTheBallroom #LearnToDance
Come with me as I eat unlimited cake (or at least try to) as my Miss It For March concludes 🍰
Miss It For March is a way to mark Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Raising vital funds and awareness by giving something up for the month of March, I gave up my favourite treat - cake!
Just because March is over, it doesn’t mean it’s too late, you can still donate, by visiting the link in my bio.
Camera work by the excellent @iamtaqinazeer 💜
#OvarianCancerAwareness #MissItForMarch #Cake #UnlimitedCake #OvarianCancer @targetovarian
Damn it was good to be back together!
I’ve missed @leesopal loads, and it was awesome to catch up and reminisce about team Balian ❤️
#teambalian #bbcstrictly #strictly #reunited
It’s time for the next instalment of Bal Beyond The Ballroom with week 5/6 🪩💃🏾✨
(This is technically week 6 as I had to miss week 5 because of the radio times cover party!)
This week we had a little recap of the rebound step - ‘rebote’ in Spanish which you can see Leandro demonstrate so beautifully, before we had a go ourselves and added it to the other steps we have already learnt.
I am so glad I continued with my dance journey after Strictly, it’s given me life and really helped me navigate my grief, by giving me a focus and a passion. I’m going to keep going and I cannot wait to see what else I can learn 🥰
#BallroomDancing #StrictlyComeDancing #ArgentineTango #DanceLessons #LearningToDance
