Strictly 2025 star Thomas Skinner admits cheating on wife weeks after wedding
By Pol Allingham, PA
Strictly Come Dancing contestant Thomas Skinner has admitted cheating on his wife just weeks after their wedding, according to reports.
The former Apprentice contestant (34) told the Sun on Sunday he had a “fling” with an “attractive” single mum who gave him a free cosmetic treatment after they met in a pub.
The newspaper said the woman is Amy-Lucy O’Rourke (35) and their affair took place three-and-a-half years ago.
Skinner, who has three children with his wife, said in the video interview: “I’m just so lucky that she forgave me. When I told my wife, I fully understood if she were to never speak to me again.
“It just shows you that 10 minutes can just ruin your whole life”.
He added: “I had a fling, I suppose, it was nothing more than that, it was the one time, it was a mistake, then I woke up feeling absolutely terrible about it”.
The married couple were not arguing or having relationship troubles but it was “just me in a moment of madness”, Skinner said.
The aftermath “was a very, very dark time”, he said, adding that his wife “never deserved that, she’s such a good person, without her I wouldn’t be where I am today – she made me”.
He advised anyone who has made a mistake to “be honest and own up to it”, and said “we are in an incredible place. It’s forgotten about and we’ve moved on from it now”.
In a statement to the paper, a spokeswoman for Ms O’Rourke said: “This has been an incredibly stressful chapter in her life.
“She did not have a fling with Mr Skinner, she had a relationship with him.”
This comes after days Skinner apologised for picking up a journalist’s phone and walking out of a Strictly Come Dancing press event midway through.
He later said his departure from Tuesday’s event was not related to the BBC dancing show, and claimed he did so because he had seen messages about his past on the reporter’s phone.
Skinner was reported to have grabbed the phone and walked out after objecting to being recorded by a journalist.
He has previously drawn strong criticism for X posts saying it is “not far-right” to be “flying your flag and loving your country”, and complaining “it ain’t safe out there any more” in London, saying the city is “hostile” and “tense”.
Skinner will join fellow stars such as Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen, Gladiator Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and CBBC actress Ellie Goldstein, who is to become the first contestant with Down’s syndrome to take part in Strictly’s full series, when the show returns later this year.
