Katya Jones's Biography
Katya Jones, previously known as Ekaterina Sokolova, was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and started dancing at the age of six.
Her teachers were Radik and Eva Bagautdinov.
When she split with her dance partner, she was already scheduled to dance at Blackpool. She went instead with her mother. Beforehand she had worked with Karen Hardy and Richard Porter and they put her in touch with Neil Jones and Katya and Neil formed a dance partnership and later on a romantic one.
Whilst pursuing her dance vocation, Katya Jones also finished her world culture studies course at the University of Culture and Arts in Russia.
Katya and Neil Jones won the World Amateur Latin Championships for the first time in 2010, going on to win the title a total of 3 times, before turning professional in 2013.
In 2015, they became the World Professional Latin Showdance Champions. They also became 4 times undefeated British National Professional Champions.
They married in London in August 2013 and have a dog called Crumble.
In June 2016, the BBC announced that Katya Jones would be one of the professional dancers on Strictly Come Dancing.
She was paired with Ed Balls.
In 2017, she was paired with Joe McFadden and they won.
In 2018, she was partnered with Seann Walsh.
In October 2018, Katya and Seann created a media storm after they were photographed kissing.
Katya and Seann were the fifth couple to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing in 2018.
In August 2019, it was revealed that Katya and Neil Jones were splitting up. They had been married 6 years and been together 11 years.
In the 2019 series of Strictly Come Dancing Katya Jones was paired with Mike Bushell. They were the seventh couple to be eliminated.
In 2020, Katya became part of Strictly Come Dancing's all-female pairing when she was partnered by Nicola Adams.
However. on 12 November, it was revealed that the pair had to pull out of Strictly as Katya Jones had a positive Covid-19 test.
In 2021, Katya Jones was paired with Adam Peaty in Strictly series 19.
In 2022, she was paired with Tony Adams. He was paired with Katya Jones. They came ninth. They were due to have a dance-off with Tyler West and Dianne Buswell however had to drop out as Tony Adams was injured.
In Strictly 2023, she was partnered by Nigel Harman.
Katya and Nigel reached the last five couples in the show, but they had to pull out because Nigel sustained an injury in rehearsal.
In 2024, she was paired with Wynne Evans. They were the eighth couple to be eliminated.
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