Strictly Come Dancing professional Dianne Buswell has shared an emotional update alongside partner Joe Sugg and their baby son Bowden, after a sad goodbye at the airport
10:44, 13 May 2026Updated 14:08, 13 May 2026
Dianne was sad to see her mum and dad go(Image: YouTube/ Dianne Buswell)
Following an extended six-week visit that included Mother’s Day and her birthday, Strictly Come Dancing’s Dianne Buswell said a tearful goodbye to her parents Mark and Rina, who are on their way back to their home in Australia.
Mark and Rina had been staying with Dianne and her partner Joe Sugg at their £3.5m home in Brighton, East Sussex, mainly to spend some quality time with the couple’s baby son, Bowden, who was born in March. Dianne says that Rina, in particular, had bonded with the little lad.
In a new video on her own channel, Dianne said Bowden was going to “miss his little cuddles with Nanny” after she had left. “He loves his cuddles with Nanny,” the professional dancer added. “Sometimes Nanny’s the only one that can actually console him. So, I’m going to have to ring Nanny and say, “Do you mind getting on the next flight? He won’t stop crying’.”
She added that, with her parents’ visit having been so long, she had settled into a comfortable routine with them, and it was going to be a major wrench when they left.
The couple have become red carpet regulars(Image: Tim Whitby/BAFTA, Getty Images for BAFTA)
The best part, Dianne said, was how much time they’d managed to have together: “I was actually free the whole time, which was even lovelier,” she explained. “Normally I’ve got something on, or I’m doing some show, or I’m on Strictly, or whatever. So I don’t really get to see them for as long and we don’t get to do as many things.”
They had managed to fit in plenty of activities in the six weeks, including a celebration for Dianne’s 37th birthday, as well as her first Mother’s Day. Bowden was born on March 16.
Dianne and Joe got into a relationship after being paired up for Strictly’s 16th series, back in 2018.
They were as natural a pairing in real life as they proved to be on the dance floor. The pair made it all the way to the finale, with their highest-scoring performance coming in week nine when they performed the Quickstep to Dancing Fool and were awarded 38 points from the judges.
Dianne with baby Bowden(Image: instagram/dianebuswell)
Scoring a near-perfect 40 in the Strictly final wasn’t quite enough to clinch the title for them, sadly, and they were pipped to the post by another real-life couple – Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton.
But in an emotional post shortly after the result was announced, Joe said he felt as if he had gained something much more important than the covered Glitterball trophy: “I may not have won the glitter ball, but I’ve won something a million times more special,” he wrote on Instagram.
Dianne said in 2021 that they didn’t have any plans to get married just yet and were instead going to “play it by ear.”
She admitted: “I plan my work a lot, but that’s probably as far as I go with planning. I’m quite an unorganised person actually.”
With her mum back in Australia, and a demanding new baby in the house, that aspect of Dianne’s life may have to change!
