STRICTLY’S Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen were struggling with £1million debt as their 12-year romance crumbled around them.
Yesterday The Sun told how their marriage has ended and now the full extent of their financial difficulties can be revealed.
Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen have struggled financially after launching their company[/caption]
The couple set up the company to combine their passions[/caption]
They have now split after 12 years together[/caption]
Kristina Rihanoff Ben Cohen Soo Yoga[/caption]
The issues started when the pair, who own a £1.75m house in Northamptonshire, went into business together, with Kristina also working as a dance instructor.
Kristina said the pair had “invested everything we’ve ever had” into their company Soo Yoga, after turning her passion for the exercise into a business.
However after the pandemic hit, they ran into serious trouble.
Their financial difficulties were made public in court last September, when Kristina was caught driving her £30,000 Audi without insurance.
Kristina sobbed as Ben took to the stand and admitted human error on his part meant Kristina had been driving without insurance – meaning she was facing a driving ban which would be financially devastating for her business as a dance instructor.
As Ben spoke to the court, he revealed the pair were fighting to save their relationship, admitting he was crippled with debts from their businesses, including their joint yoga venture.
Paperwork reveals that debts accrued by their companies now add up to £1million.
Their Soo Yoga Group ran up debts of £488,470 and another of their fitness firms – Yoga Wellbeing Limited – had debts of £63,000.
Their business Soo Greens Limited also racked up £54,000 of debts and fitness company Beyond Wellbeing was dissolved in 2022 with debts of £22,000.
Ben also quit as a company director of struggling web firm Silicon Networks in 2020 and the company is now in liquidation with debts of £275,000, including a £98,000 tax bill owed to HMRC.
Speaking in court last year, Ben became emotional as he spoke about the realities of the financial crisis they were facing.
He said: “I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything – to lose my cars and my house and my relationship. I’m so overdrawn.”
When asked about the strain it had put on their relationship, Ben said: “We’re still living together. We’re in it financially.
“We’re in business together so the problem is that we opened the business before Covid and we got the worst severities of it and in all honestly this is just another problem for me to deal with.
Kristina was spared a driving ban last year[/caption]
The pair met and fell in love on Strictly[/caption]
“I’ve got credit cards that are overdrawn. I’m overdrawn in both accounts. We have got a business debt because of Covid. It’s just another problem.”
Following the court case, where Kristina was spared a driving ban due to “exceptional hardship”, the pair put their Northamptonshire home up for sale.
But rather than choosing to limp on, the pair have now split and are trying to move on with their lives.
“There is only so much one couple can take,” a friend explained.
“The financial problems Kristina and Ben were facing pushed them to the brink and it has been incredibly stressful for them.
“This was what properly broke them and ended the relationship.
“But their union hasn’t always been rosy and they have had an up-and-down relationship for many years.”
Strictly Curse – The Lowdown
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s latest series has already been hit by rumours of a BBC show ‘curse’ – yet what is it?
A host of Strictly Come Dancing stars have been struck by the Strictly Curse during the past two decades.
This is where celebrities who may or may not be attached in the outside world become more than friends with their professional partners.
A total of 20 relationships are said to have been impacted so far over the show’s 20 years.
It has seen relationships crumble with dance floor romances and punishing rehearsal schedules to blame.
This includes the partnerships of Louise and Jamie Redknapp as well as Kevin Clifton and Karen Hauer.
Controversially, Judge Craig Revel Horwood once said of the curse: “I think of it as a blessing, to be honest. One person is married, the other one had a girlfriend but my point in this entire thing is: if you come on Strictly, sometimes you are in a relationship that is not working anyway.
“There has to be something wrong in your relationship before it all goes awry.”
Series one winner Brendan Cole left his fiancé, fellow Strictly professional Camilla Dallerup, during filming for the very first series in spring 2004.
Brendan was said to have fallen for his celebrity partner and inaugural winner Natasha Kaplinsky, although the duo didn’t confirm they were romantically involved.
