'WE INSPIRE EACH OTHER TO LEVEL UP & BE OUR BEST'

Best friends Katya Jones and Aimee Fuller tell us how their shared love for activity and adventure helps them to feel supported, inspired and bonded for life

- Words: Joanna Ebsworth

Sometimes even the smallest shared interest can form the foundation for a meaningful friendship. For Russian dancer, choreographer and Strictly Come Dancing star, Katya Jones, 36, and two-time Team GB Winter Olympian turned broadcaster, Aimee Fuller, 34, that common ground was a mutual appreciation for nuts.

I remember seeing Aimee hovering over a massive bowl of nuts at my ex-husband Neil Jones’ birthday party in 2021, while everyone else was in another room playing games and eating McDonalds,’ says Katya, who recently celebrated her 10th anniversary with Strictly after making her debut on the Saturday night BBC show in 2016. ‘Neil had invited Aimee after they met on a job in 2020 and she had introduced him to wakesurfing. As soon as he met her, he said, “Oh, you would really get on with my ex-wife", and he was right, because it was just me and Aimee talking over roasted cashews and almonds for the rest of the night. That was the start of our adventure, and since then, our shared love for nuts has only increased!’, she adds, before she and Aimee descend into a fit of infectious giggles.

‘Instantly, there was an energy and connection and understanding between us over each other's career paths,’ says former snowboarder, now broadcaster, Aimee, who has competed in both the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. ‘Dancing and snowboarding happen to be very similar in terms of following them as a career, in the way you have to essentially take on the world, do it all on your own and organise everything yourself. It’s not like we are from sports or arts where you are mollycoddled and there's a team behind you.’