Celebrity News

Ian Waite Wiki, Age, Husband, Gay, DWTS, Partner, Married, Parents, Family, Height, Strictly

Ian Waite Biography – Ian Waite Wiki

Ian Waite is a British professional dancer and choreographer. He is known for his role on Dancing with the Stars Australia, Strictly Come Dancing and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. He competed on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2010.

Ian started dancing at the age of 10 when he accompanied his younger brother to a Saturday dance class. It didn’t take long to see just what a natural born performer and dancer he was.

Winner of the Dutch Professional, UK Ten Dance, Amateur Latin American Championship as well as countless other international achievements, Ian has proved again and again to be an immensely talented and respected performer, teacher and choreographer.

Ian is the co-founder of FitSteps, an energetic, up beat dance fitness class featuring all of your favourite strictly dances. It is designed to give real, measurable fitness results. It is suitable for all ages and abilities and you don’t need a partner.

Ian Waite Age

Dancer Ian Waite was born on 29 January 1971 in Reading, Berkshire.

Ian Waite Husband

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Ian Waite is married to Drew Merriman. The couple married on 22 July 2017 inside the 18th-century Sculpture Gallery at Woburn Abbey.

“It was the best day of my life,” Ian told HELLO! magazine. “It’s been absolutely brilliant. It was so emotional to walk into the ceremony and see friends and family looking towards us.”

According to HELLO! magazine, invited guests included Ian’s former Strictly partners Zoe Ball and Denise Lewis – who Zoe calls his ‘Strictly wives’ – the show’s judge Craig Revel Horwood and dancers Natalie Lowe, Anton Du Beke, Erin Boag, Vincent Simone, Camilla Sacre-Dallerup, Matthew Cutler, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova. Former contestants BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood and retired swimmer Mark Foster also attended.

Ian Waite Strictly Come Dancing

Ian first joined Strictly Come Dancing back in 2004 as one of the professional dancers in series two, reaching the final with Denise Lewis. He reached the final the following year with Zoe Ball, finishing in 3rd place behind Colin Jackson and Erin Boag and the Strictly winners for that year, Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova. He continued in Strictly until 2009.

In 2011, Ian joined the It Takes Two family as a permanent fixture, reuniting with his former dance partner Zoe for Waite’s Wednesday Warm-up, in which he gave the fans a sneak peek of the Strictly rehearsals and offered his expert take on their routines.

In May 2021, Ian announced his departure from Strictly’s sister show It Takes Two after ten years. The Reading-born dancer wrote on Instagram: “Wow! What an incredible journey. It is with great sadness but also a lot of pride that after ten years presenting Waites Warm-Up on #ItTakesTwo the sister show to @bbcstrictly I will be putting away my wand to focus on my dance fitness brand Fitsteps and also my up-and-coming tour with Vincent Simone The Ballroom Boys.

“I want to thank all the amazing crew, makeup artists, directors, producers, who made it so enjoyable to come into work. I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with Strictly since the first year in 2004 and I will continue to support all my supremely talented fellow pro dancers, judges, celebs and look forward to their performances in 2021.”

He paid tribute to Zoe Ball, who presented the hit BBC2 show for the past ten years, writing: “This journey would not have been possible without the one and only Zoe Ball who has been the most loyal, loving, caring friend one could wish to have. I will miss you the most but know that we will still see each other a lot in the future. Lastly thank you to all our wonderful ITT fans you are the best!”

Ian Waite Dancing with the Stars

Ian Waite is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars Australia. He was partnered with stage and screen actress Virginia Gay in 2023.

Instagram

Ian Waite’s Instagram handle is @ianjwaite.