New unpleasant blow for Kristina Rihanoff after her split from Ben Cohen - so can she ever shake the 'Curse of Strictly'?

   

Former Strictly star Kristina Rihanoff - still reeling from her split from Ben Cohen - today faces a new blow: the yoga business they co-founded is almost £500,000 in the red.

The ballroom dancer today published two years of accounts which show that the financial problems blamed for their high-profile split have not abated.

The company is now £489,470 in the red, with the bulk of the cash being owed to unspecified creditors.

Kristina, who signed off on the paperwork, remains a director while Cohen stood down in September last year, records show.

The new figures were released just three months after the Russian dancer's separation from former England rugby star Cohen, the father of her eight-year-old daughter.

The former couple, who have been open about their money struggles in the past, met on the 2013 series of Strictly Come Dancing when the World Cup winner was still married to wife Abby, with whom he shares 16-year-old twin daughters.

Rihanoff, 47, and Cohen, 46, who were together for 12 years, experienced severe financial struggles after the yoga business struggled during Covid.

 

They split in March, saying they planned 'to go forward as separate individuals', but three months on they remain in the same property as they can't afford to live apart.

Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen are pictured together in July 2023

Kristina and Ben started Soo Yoga Group together in June 2017 - four years after falling for each other after they were partnered together on the 11th series of Strictly (seen on Strictly in 2013)

Soo Yoga Group is now £489,470 in the red, with the bulk of the cash being owed to unspecified creditors

The pair plunged all their money into the project but were left with crippling debts, reportedly totalling around £1 million, after the pandemic struck just nine months after they officially launched in 2019, forcing them to close their Northampton-based studio.

In March it was reported they were 'facing a major dispute with creditors and the government' over their financial troubles.

Accounts for the past two years have just been published after the company, Soo Yoga Group Ltd, was threatened with being struck off by Companies House.

The accounts report said that Kristina intended to keep the company going despite the huge shortfall and would support the business with her own funds.

It said: 'The directors have agreed to support the company for the foreseeable future and are therefore of the opinion that it is appropriate for the financial statements to be prepared on a going concern basis.'

The company owes £440,357 to creditors and almost £50,000 in bank loans. The former couple still share equal control through their ownership of shares.

The pair met in one of the most famous examples of the so-called 'curse of Strictly', as it emerged that Ben's marriage to Abby had broken up soon after the show aired - though Ben would date others before forming a relationship with Kristina.

Russian-born Kristina - who left Strictly in 2015 before giving birth to daughter Mila the following year - had worked hard to retrain as a yoga instructor (pictured with Ben ahead of the Strictly live tour in 2014)

The couple's five-bedroom home in Sywell, Northamptonshire, which was bought in 2016. They were forced to put it on the market due to their money woes

Kristina had previously been rumoured to have been romantically linked to her partner in the 2009 show, boxer Joe Calzaghe.

The extent of Ben and Kristina's financial struggles were laid bare in unusual circumstances - during a court appearance last September when Kristina was caught driving without insurance.

Cohen, who won 57 England caps, opened up about the pair's money woes while giving evidence in the case in which Kristina unsuccessfully appealed a driving ban.

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 questioned about the strains on his and Rihanoff's relationship, he 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.

'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.'

Rihanoff sobbed throughout the hearing, telling the court it would be financially devastating if she was disqualified as she needed to drive to judge ballroom competitions across the country, which earn her around £2,000 a month.

He and Rihanoff also addressed their worrying money problems in 2021, admitting the stress of their failing business sparked bouts of depression

They started Soo Yoga Group together in June 2017 - four years after falling for each other when they were partnered together on the 11th series of the hit BBC show - and hoped to emulate the success of the David Lloyd health franchise.

Former rugby star Ben Cohen, who won 57 England caps, opened up about the pair's money woes in September last year

The former Strictly Come Dancing star, 47, and the ex-rugby player, 46, ended their 12-year romance in March

The former couple were forced to put their £1.75million five-bedroom home in Sywell, Northamptonshire, where they had lived since 2016, on the market. Cohen had few sources of income beyond his annual topless calendars of himself.

Speaking to MailOnline after the court case, Rihanoff said: 'The company is a new company, we'd just set it up. We invested everything we've ever had.

'It was awful. I put everything into it and you don't even have a chance to develop the business.

'We opened in August after the first lockdown and had a huge spike. It's a family-orientated centre. Then November lockdown, December... it was awful because we didn't know the end of it. It was forever and ever and ever. Fingers crossed we can go back to normality soon.'

Cohen added that the business 'had not earned a penny' in lockdown, and they were forced to hold their classes outside while they were unable to use their yoga studio.

Rihanoff retrained as a yoga instructor after quitting Strictly in 2015.

Their studio offered dance, meditation and Pilates classes, while Cohen taught high intensity training.

The company has long been in debt but friends had hoped that after separating they might have found a way to rearrange their finances and get back towards solvency.