Dreams come true on the Strictly ballroom dance floor, it’s said.
And no one had dreamed harder than Amber Davies, who first stepped out two weeks ago.
She’d been ‘beyond desperate’ to appear on the show ever since she won ITV reality show Love Island back in 2017 but had been turned down twice, much to her disappointment, for being ‘too good’.
(While there are no official rules over contestants’ dance experience, it’s seen as unfair when some have an obvious advantage, and Amber has a strong stage school background).
The BBC’s sneering bosses were also said to have been unimpressed with Amber’s reality television background. But needs must, so when Dani Dyer fractured her ankle, Amber – who has forged a successful career on the West End stage – was drafted in with just 24 hours notice to dance on the show.
Her against-the-odds appearance is just another triumph for a young woman described as ‘determined to the point of ruthlessness’ by those who know her.
The daughter of a plumber and a mental health nurse in North Wales, the 29-year-old has hauled herself from humble beginnings in a £150,000 three-bedroom semi in the backwater town of Denbigh, to one of the biggest shows on British television in just eight years – not to mention becoming a multi-millionaire along the way.
Despite the BBC’s sneering bosses reportedly being unimpressed with Amber Davies’s reality television background, the West End star was drafted in at the last minute to fill Dani Dyer’s place on Strictly Come Dancing. Pictured with dance partner Nikita Kuzmin
The Love Island winner at the villa with her then-boyfriend Kem Cetinay
And as one friend explains: ‘When Amber wants something, she gets it whatever it takes – she’s fiercely competitive and always has been, even when she was as a little girl.
‘But now she’s had massive success she can be very demanding too of the people around her – and she doesn’t worry too much about stepping on some toes to get what she wants.
‘She’s been through a couple of different agents, not to mention boyfriends, who have all found out the hard way that she can be a full-time job. She is a diva in every sense.’
After emerging triumphant from the Love Island villa in 2017 with then-boyfriend Kem Cetinay, and her share of the £50,000 prize, Amber set about ensuring that she was not just another girl in a bikini.
Their relationship lasted barely longer than her suntan, however, with both blaming their busy work schedules for their split four months later.
The truth was, Amber felt Kem was too immature for her to settle down with long-term, because he still lived with his parents while she had been independently living in London for several years.
Amber wanted more and she was determined to get it.
With the help of her staunchly loyal agent Martin Coutts (whom she ditched in 2021 after Strictly turned her down for a second time) she networked ‘like a demon’ according to sources close to her.
‘She was after column inches and she set about networking in a way that was extremely impressive,’ says my source.
‘She made friends with journalists and was even a guest in a red top newspaper’s box for the Brit awards one year.’
Talking of which, I’m told that despite not being an official guest – or indeed particularly famous at the time – Amber attempted to orchestrate walking down the red carpet before the event so she could be photographed.
However, the event’s PR team would not allow it.
‘Amber wanted to be in those shots alongside more famous people, like she was someone.
‘But she didn’t have any luck with that, still, she spent the night networking with journalists who she hoped would write about her.’
After emerging triumphant from the Love Island villa, Amber set about ensuring that she was not just another girl in a bikini
The Welsh dancer and actress as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum
Her relentless quest for success, at almost any cost, has also meant that at times she has struggled to hold down romances despite her eagerness to land ‘the fairytale’.
I’m told that she left one boyfriend, who I have agreed not to name, ‘terrified’ when shortly into her relationship she suggested that they discuss what their ‘PR strategy’ would be.
And tellingly, her current boyfriend (fellow musical actor Ben Joyce whom she first met while appearing together in Back To The Future on stage, wrote online after she was unveiled as an eleventh hour addition to Strictly: ‘Does she ever stop? No she doesn’t!’
The pair first met as friends in 2022, while she was going through a final split from on-off businessman flame Nick Kyriacou – with whom she endured a tempestuous two-year romance and multiple break-ups.
Amber regularly spoke of their passionate relationship, and even mooted starting a family after they moved in together at her Essex home – but a series of fiery disputes saw them split several times before finally calling it quits.
I can reveal she also enjoyed a fleeting romance with chart-topping singer Tom Grennan, who had invited her to join him at a recording studio while making an album – though the fledgling romance dried up due to their respective hectic schedules.
As a source adds: ‘Amber is all or nothing when it comes to love – she falls very hard and very fast, but it can scare people off a bit.
‘Whether you’re a boyfriend or someone who she works with – things always end up on her terms one way or another.
‘She missed out on a couple of jobs – including Strictly the first couple of times she went for it, and she auditioned for Coronation Street too – so dropped her agency even though they’d really fought for her.
‘That’s showbiz – but it’s pretty brutal. Some people have worked incredibly hard to support her over the years and they don’t necessarily get remembered for it.’
Another friend added: ‘The men she dates sometimes don’t know what’s hit them. She’s pretty high maintenance – she’s intense, and it doesn’t take long before she starts talking about the future and posting gushing things online about how loved up she is.
‘Amber (pictured on Strictly) is fiercely competitive and always has been,’ one friend tells Katie Hind
‘She’s obviously gorgeous, she gets loads of attention, but what she’s looking for is the full package – Prince Charming plus a personal assistant. Put it this way, you wouldn’t catch Amber going to the bar to fetch her own drink, or booking her own cab, if she can possibly avoid it – she likes to be treated like a Princess.’
Amber has been lambasted for being too experienced as a dancer, something which is understandable given that her journey to the top began as a youngster, first at a local stage school before landing a scholarship at London’s Urdang Academy and moving to the capital aged 16 to pursue her dreams.
The college, now part of City University, specialises in ballet, modern dance and musical theatre skills
After Love Island she won a role in 2019 on the West End stage playing Judy in 9 To 5 The Musical – a show based on the songs of Dolly Parton.
Since then she has also appeared on ITV rival Dancing On Ice alongside a host of major stage roles, appearing as a leading actress in Back To The Future, The Great Gatsby, Bring It On and Pretty Woman – and she has been booked to play the lead in a 2026 touring production of romantic comedy, Legally Blonde.
For years, Amber enjoyed a competitive relationship with her equally star-struck and ambitious older sister Jade, who has gone on to appear in Les Miserables.
The pair went to the same stage school but it was Jade who got her break first – which left Amber feeling the pressure and even led her to have sleepless nights.
Writing in the alumni magazine for the Urdang Academy, Amber said: ‘My older sister booked a job before graduating. She booked Les Miserables, and I always remember feeling this underlying pressure throughout my training that I must do the same, otherwise I’d have somewhat failed.
‘Lo and behold, I didn’t book a job straight out of college, and I soon began to realise that what she had achieved was extremely rare, so Love Island was a real gamble for me. I had sleepless nights thinking: “Am I going to ruin a career I’ve dreamed about my entire life before it’s even begun?”’
Last week, Amber and her dance partner Nikita Kuzmin were handed 27 points out of 40 for their waltz to When We Were Young and tonight will dance the samba.
She was still shooting down criticism of her previous dance experience this week, insisting she hasn’t been given an easy ride and still has a lot to learn.
She said: ‘Ballroom and Latin are worlds apart from what I experienced in the West End.
‘It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.’
But those who know her say she’ll already have the glitter ball in her sights, and will be giving it everything’s she’s got… what Amber wants, Amber tends to get.
