Nick Knowles' fiancee issues emotional statement as Strictly live show kicks off

Who Dares Wins star Nick Knowles has confessed to crippling exhaustion which left him "crawling" to his car in the run-up to Strictly rehearsals - and his girlfriend has now spoken out.

As her beau and his pro partner Luba Mushtuk prepared to dance together to Starship's 'We Built This City' tonight, she took to Instagram to wish him a happy birthday. The Southall-born TV fave, who turns 62 today, is almost twice the age of his 33-year-old lingerie entrepreneur girlfriend Kate Dadzie, but the age-gap is irrelevant to them.

Sharing a photo montage of the pair at restaurants, private members clubs, red carpets and sporting events, as well as exotic holiday destinations, she described him as her "soulmate" - and it's clear she's rooting for him to win. "Happy birthday to my best friend and soulmate," she declared.

Referring to tonight's Strictly debut, Katie added: "Tonight’s the big night and you’re going to be amazing!!!!!" She also reposted a new video of her beau declaring that he was "aiming" to get "passionate" with his dance partner - but made it clear she approved of their onstage shenanigans with the words "Team Nick and Luba".

She punctuated her comment with two glittery disco ball emojis. In the video clip, Nick had explained that he'd been struck by one of Luba's performances of the Argentinian tango, where he saw her and her partner "almost kiss". Saying the scene was "passionate and lovely", he explained: "That's where I'm aiming to get to."

Luba predicted that her new partner would be "very good at ballroom" dancing as he's "strong and tall" and has a "beautiful posture".

However, Kate needn't worry about all this talk of passion, as he's made it clear that the Strictly curse simply "won't be an issue".

According to the DIY SOS host, he's been so "exhausted" from intensive rehearsals that he barely has the stamina for anything else.

Nick explained one horror moment when he had to "crawl" to his car after aching all over following a busy day on the dancefloor.

“[The curse] is not an issue. I barely had the energy to walk out to the car afterwards," he insisted as he relived recent rehearsals, adding: "Honestly... I literally crawled out to the car and sat with my feet in a bath of cold water for an hour when I got home."

Meanwhile, in the Mirror he admitted that Strictly has tested him more than he'd ever thought possible.

Despite appearing in gruelling scenes in the Australian jungle for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and being no stranger to adventure travel, it's the ballroom that has him anxious.

"I thought trying to ride a horse in Mongolia while firing a bow and arrow was going to be the most difficult thing I did in my lifetime," he shuddered.

"It turns out it wasn’t. This is a lot more difficult than almost anything I’ve ever tried."