Strictly Come Dancing professional Maddie Ingoldsby has announced her split from long-time dance partner Mark Chilcote, just months before making her BBC debut on the 2026 series. The 21-year-old confirmed the end of their seven-year partnership in an emotional joint Instagram post.
The post featured a montage of the pair embracing after winning multiple titles, set to Harry Styles' 2017 song Sign of the Times. In the caption, they wrote: 'The final bow to the end of our partnership. After the most extraordinary seven years of our lives, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to bring our partnership to an end. Some endings don’t arrive because our passion has faded; they arrive because life asks us to grow in new directions.'
Reflection on a successful partnership
Reflecting on their journey, they added: 'Our partnership has been our greatest teacher and our greatest treasure. It has challenged us to find strength in one another, and opened up the world to us in ways we couldn’t have dreamed possible, performing on countless stages across twenty countries.'
'Dance has been our language to express what words never could… We never danced to simply win. We danced to tell our story, and we hope that somewhere along the way, our story became a small part of yours.'
The statement listed their winning titles, including eight world championship titles and three major championships: Internationals, UK Open, and British Open.
What's next for the dancers
The post concluded: 'Our story will live on in hearts and in memory, and with the end of one chapter, a new one awaits each of us. Mark is in search of a new dance partnership, while Maddie is putting a pause on her competitive dancing.'
Maddie's addition to the Strictly pro line-up was uncovered by The Sun days earlier, making her the second-youngest in the show's history, after Chloe Hewitt, who was 20 in 2004. Born in Henley, Oxfordshire, Maddie has been competing since age 11 with Mark, 26. She previously appeared on the Strictly stage at age 11 as part of a routine with the troupe.
The split follows a major shake-up in which beloved pros Karen Hauer, 44, Nadiya Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk, both 36, Gorka Marquez, 35, and Michelle Tsiakkas, 30, were axed as part of an overhaul for the 2026 series.
