Opposites attract for fiancees Flavia and Jimi

(Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Strictly Come Dancing star Flavia Cacace says her romance with actor Jimi Mistry is a case of opposites attract.

The dancer said she was surprised when Jimi, who she met when they were paired up on the show in 2010, proposed during a romantic break in the new year.

She told Hello! Magazine: "I think we're still a little bit in shock."

Flavia, 34, said 40-year-old Jimi got down on one knee to present her with a square-shaped diamond engagement ring set in platinum.

She said: "I tend to laugh easily, whereas he was a bit more emotional. I was trying to calm him down. But it was so special and lovely."

The Italian-born star said the pair, whose romance began after Jimi was voted off the BBC ballroom show, complement each other because they are so different.

She said: "I've had a unique life with my dancing, my whole life has revolved around it, so I didn't go through a 'normal' adolescence. Whereas Jimi has had a more normal life - university, drama school.

"He's quite a chilled person whereas I'm disciplined and hard working - probably too much. He's more, 'Let's have a weekend away'. On the other hand he now goes to the gym, eats his greens and his vitamins. I appreciate him calming me down when I need to, and I get the whip out when it's gym time."

The couple have not set a date for their wedding - or worked out their first dance. "We'll have to find a song first," Flavia joked.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.