Strictly's Dan Walker shares dance between partner Nadiya and Sheffield Mi Amigo hero Tony Foulds

Strictly star Dan Walker surprised one of Sheffield’s home-grown heroes yesterday with a dance through the park with partner Nadiya.
Alastair Ulke
By Alastair Ulke
Published 8th Dec 2021, 17:22 GMT
Updated 8th Dec 2021, 17:23 GMT
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Dan has had a long and touching friendship with local legend Tony Foulds, caretaker of the Mi Amigo memorial in Endcliffe Park.

Between his vigil of lovingly preserving the World War Two memorial, Mr Foulds has been supporting Dan’s efforts on Strictly Come Dancing with weekly voicemails cheering him on.

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And yesterday, Dan surprised Tony at Endcliffe Park by offering him a waltz with his dancing partner, Nadiya Bychkova.

Sheffield legend Tony Foulds had a dance with Nadiya Bychkova in Endcliffe Park as thanks for his weeks of supporting Dan Walker and his partner's efforts on Strictly.Sheffield legend Tony Foulds had a dance with Nadiya Bychkova in Endcliffe Park as thanks for his weeks of supporting Dan Walker and his partner's efforts on Strictly.
Sheffield legend Tony Foulds had a dance with Nadiya Bychkova in Endcliffe Park as thanks for his weeks of supporting Dan Walker and his partner's efforts on Strictly.
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‘They’re my family’ – Sheffield pensioner Tony Foulds speaks about the Mi Amigo ...

Fans got to share in the special moment through a touching video posted on Dan’s Instagram page.

Nadiya and Tony are filmed slow-dancing by the memorial. Charmed by his moves, Nadiya comments: “Wow, is he a professional?”

"I promised Tony at the start of Strictly that I would bring Nadiya to see him and today it happened,” wrote Dan in his post.

BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, who lives in Sheffield, with Nadiya Bychkova after he became the 10th celebrity to leave BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in the quarter finals. Photo by: Guy Levy/BBC/PA WireBBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, who lives in Sheffield, with Nadiya Bychkova after he became the 10th celebrity to leave BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in the quarter finals. Photo by: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire
BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, who lives in Sheffield, with Nadiya Bychkova after he became the 10th celebrity to leave BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in the quarter finals. Photo by: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire
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"They had a little dance, a little chat and I thanked him fir the voicemails he has left me every single weekend.”

The BBC presenter even shared one of the weekly messages. In it, Tony says to his friend: “Hello Dan, it’s Tone – you did well, you’re good enough to go through to the semi-finals and win it. You’ll do it, I’m sure.

"Love to you both, love to family then, see you.”

It comes after Dan and Nadiya’s Strictly journey sadly came to an end on Sunday (December 5) at the quarter finals when they sent home.

Their last performance was a tango set to Santa Maria by Gotan Project.

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In his exit speech, Dan said: “The last 11 weeks have been absolutely amazing, I genuinely have loved every second of it. If I go back to the first day when we were asked to dance in front of some glitter balls, and at that point if there had been a fire exit, I felt that uncomfortable I’d have just walked away.

"But this amazing woman sort of grabbed me by the hand and brought me out on the dancefloor and I’m not a dancer but she showed me that I can dance, and that for me has been an absolutely incredible experience and I have really loved it.”

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Related topics:Dan WalkerSheffieldEndcliffe Park

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