Strictly stars Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff ‘fighting to save relationship’

Strictly stars Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff are on the brink of ending things over unpaid debt.

Former Strictly pro Kristina, 46, has been in court after she was caught driving her luxurious £30k Audi Q3 without insurance. Her partner Ben has been standing by her during court proceedings, but it appears the couple are not doing too well.

The hearing, at Northampton Crown Court on Friday (September 6), saw Kristina appear before a judge after she was remanded by officers for driving without valid insurance. Partner Ben, 45, admitted that he had ignored a text message from his insurance company that said his policy had ended.

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Russian dancer Kristina, who appeared in court under her birth name Kristina Pchenitchnykh, sobbed as the circumstances surrounding her incident were uncovered. She was found to be driving the car without insurance when she was stopped by police in the area of Horsemarket in Northampton on April 4.

During the police stoppage, Kristina was hit with six points on her driving licence. But having accrued another six over previous incidents, this mean that she was facing a ban from driving after having a total of 12 penalty points.

Kristina appeared in court alongside Ben as she faced a conviction of driving without insurance. Ex-rugby star Ben took Kristina’s side, acting as her witness during the case.

The couple first met whilst competing on the 2013 edition of Strictly Come Dancing, with the pair having obvious chemistry between them. This later would become real, as Ben opted to leave his then-wife Abbie Bray to be with the BBC dancer.

Since then, the couple had set up a number of different businesses together to bring the money in, including a yoga studio that was hit hard by the pandemic. But according to Ben, who took to the stand to defend his partner, the pair’s finances have never been more meek.

“I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything; to lose my cars, my house and my relationship,” he admitted. “I’m so overdrawn.”

When asked by the judge if the couple were still together, he admitted they were, saying they were “still living together” and “in it financially”. In his examination, Ben added that a string of bad luck has left pair in their current position.

“We’re in business together so the problem is that we opened the business before Covid and we got the worst severities of it,” he said. “In all honestly this is just another problem for me to deal with.

“I’ve got credit cards that are overdrawn,” Ben continued. “I’m overdrawn in both accounts. We have got a business debt because of Covid. It’s just another problem.”

Ben added that he had been looking for cheaper insurance online, after his usual company Aviva had quoted him a total of £7,500 insurance for his car. He had managed to get a policy with Dial Direct in February, but in March they had texted him to threaten cancelling his policy if he did not give info on his no claims details.

However, as Ben was on holiday at the time, he ignored the text, which eventually cancelled the policy. He also insisted he did not have a no claims bonus, and so did not feel the need to give the details.

As Ben gave his testimony, Kristina was seen sobbing into a tissue, and had to leave the court midway proceedings due to the nausea the case had given her. She was later brought back into the courtroom wrapped in a white blanket.

Following the case, Kristina’s case was rejected and the ban from driving was upheld. She was also ordered to pay £357 in costs for appealing the decision.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk