Strictly Come Dancing pro Dianne Buswell in tears as she bids emotional farewell

After an extended six-week stay that encompassed both Mother's Day and her birthday, Strictly Come Dancing star Dianne Buswell bade an emotional farewell to her parents Mark and Rina, as the pair made their way back to their native Australia.

Mark and Rina had been residing with Dianne and her partner Joe Sugg at their £3.5m Brighton, East Sussex home, primarily to spend precious time with the couple's baby son, Bowden, who arrived in March. Dianne revealed that Rina, in particular, had formed a special bond with the little one.

In a recent video posted to her own channel, Dianne said Bowden was going to "miss his little cuddles with Nanny" following her departure. "He loves his cuddles with Nanny," the Strictly star continued. "Sometimes Nanny's the only one that can actually console him. So, I'm going to have to ring Nanny and say, "Do you mind getting on the next flight? He won't stop crying'."

She went on to say that, given the length of her parents' stay, she had fallen into a wonderfully comfortable routine with them, and their departure was going to leave a significant void.

The highlight, Dianne noted, was the sheer amount of quality time they had been able to share: "I was actually free the whole time, which was even lovelier," she explained. "Normally I've got something on, or I'm doing some show, or I'm on Strictly, or whatever. So I don't really get to see them for as long and we don't get to do as many things."

The couple had managed to pack plenty into those six weeks, including a celebration for Dianne's 37th birthday, as well as her first Mother's Day.

Bowden was born on 16th March. Dianne and Joe fell for each other after being partnered together on Strictly's 16th series back in 2018.

They proved just as natural a pairing away from the cameras as they did on the dance floor. The duo made it all the way to the grand finale, with their standout performance coming in week nine when they performed the Quickstep to Dancing Fool, earning an impressive 38 points from the judges.

Sadly, even a near-perfect score of 40 in the Strictly final wasn't sufficient to secure the title, and they were narrowly beaten by another real-life couple - Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton.

Yet in a heartfelt post shortly after the result was announced, Joe declared that he felt he had gained something far more precious than the covered Glitterball trophy: "I may not have won the glitter ball, but I've won something a million times more special," he wrote on Instagram.

Dianne revealed in 2021 that marriage wasn't on the cards just yet, and that they intended to "play it by ear."

She admitted: "I plan my work a lot, but that's probably as far as I go with planning. I'm quite an unorganised person actually."

With her mother back in Australia and a demanding new baby at home, that side of Dianne's life may well need to change!