It turns out that Strictly Come Dancing star Nikita Kuzmin isn’t the only famous one in his family. The professional dancer, who joined the BBC programme in 2021, has a famous sister who has also been a pro dancer since 2001, when she was just eight years old.

Nikita’s sister is Anastasia Kuzmina, born in Kyiv in 1993 – four years before Nikita’s birth in 1997. Anastasia paved the way for her brother to join the TV world, and has starred alongside actor Andrés Gil in three Italian reality shows – Ballando con le Stelle [Dancing With the Stars], Ballando con te [Dancing With You] and Pechino Express, a reality show where stars hitchhike across Europe. She also appeared as the host of children’s dance programme Happy Dance in 2019.

Though Nikita has been pictured alongside his sister on numerous occasions, plenty of fans had no idea she was also a TV star. When Nikita posted a selfie of the pair together for the opening of Anastasia’s musical debut in 2024, he wrote: “Surprising my sis for her first musical opening night!” – and fans rushed to comment.

One posted: “How did I not realise your sister was also famous haha!” Another echoed: “Definitely a great relationship between brother and sister. Their parents must be so proud.”

It comes after Nikita shared an update on his family still living in Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia, giving an update in March 2025: “I think everybody is heavily affected by what is happening and I think especially with the recent news, which is all political. I will not get into that. But yes, they are okay. I speak to them all the time.”

His grandma was thankfully able to safely flee across the border to Poland, where she was reunited with Nikita. He explained she spent “two nights without sleeping, walking 8km+ in the freezing cold, when on a normal day she can barely walk.

“She travelled from Kyiv, my mom flew from Rome and I drove to Frankfurt and we all reunited in Krakow! Just so happy to be together.”

Nikita shared that his aunt and two other grandparents are still in Ukraine. He said: “When I was waiting for my mom and grandma at the train station, I've been immersed in this situation for the first time in real life. Although I know I should have been happy for my family, I couldn’t.

“Just had tears on my eyes, because of how sad the situation is. How many thousands of kids and women doing their absolute best to stay strong.

“I’ve seen people arriving from the border, people waiting for the next train to go somewhere, anywhere in hope that somehow things would be ok, people not knowing what to do, since all what they have known as home, it’s not there anymore.”