Will Young's partner staying positive after singer's shock Strictly exit

Karen Clifton may have lost her partner following Will Young's shock Strictly Come dancing departure, but the professional dancer is staying positive. As speculation surrounding his decision to quit continues, the 34-year-old revealed on Thursday (13 October) that it was business as usual.

Taking to Instagram, Clifton shared a silent video message of her showing of her pilates moves with her 60.9k followers along the caption: "Back to the grind ... Pilates always does the job ... still learning, still pushing, staying positive x."

While did not reference the hit BBC show, fans still commended her for staying positive despite the drama. One said: "Yay, so happy to see you smiling. You're so strong both inside and out."

Another wrote: "WOW Karen I'm going to miss you on Strictly so much but at least I'll be able to see you in the group dances still. You're the bestest I hope you're OK... keep smiling and staying positive."

Despite being the bookies' early favourite to win the competition, Young,37, stunned fans on 11 October when he announced he was pulling out of the show, citing "personal reasons".

The former Pop Idol winner later opened up about his departure in a text message sent to Chris Evans during his BBC Radio 2 show. Young – who has suffered with depression and anxiety in the past – played down the exit and claimed it was "undramatic".

"Here's the thing. I'm absolutely dandy, thanks," his message said. "It's all very undramatic really. I've done my statement and others can say what they want to say. I never read what they say anyhow."

It has since been reported that Young will lose £20,000 of his £25,000 fee for quitting the series early. A show insider revealed to The Sun that BBC bosses have reduced his fee after he breached his contract.