15 Facts About Karen Hardy

1.

Karen Hardy won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships.

2.

Karen Hardy is best known for being a professional dancer in Strictly Come Dancing from 2005 to 2009 and as a regular contributor to Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

3.

Karen Hardy has filled in for some of the judges on The Strictly Live Tour.

4.

Karen Hardy started dancing aged five in her home town of Bournemouth, and competed in the United States for two years from the age of 18 winning both East and West Coast amateur championship titles.

5.

Karen Hardy returned to the UK in 1990 after two years in America where she teamed up with new partner Mark Lunn.

6.

Karen Hardy retired from competitive dancing in 1999 and moved into coaching.

7.

Karen Hardy was named Teacher of the Year in 2002 and 2003 at the Crystal Palace Dance Championships.

8.

Karen Hardy is an adjudicator and now judges all of the Grand Slam events worldwide which she had previously competed in and more.

9.

Karen Hardy is a Senior Commentator for EuroSport DanceSport Series.

10.

Karen Hardy participated in the television series Faking It for Channel 4.

11.

Karen Hardy appeared with journalist and presenter Bill Turnbull, in the 2005 Christmas show with former World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield, and won the 2006 series with cricketer Mark Ramprakash.

12.

Karen Hardy danced in the 2007 series with actor Brian Capron.

13.

Karen Hardy has since said that she left as due to Gary Rhodes work commitments he was unable to train much and so each week they would be struggling to do the routines.

14.

From 2011 until 2017 Karen Hardy had been a regular presenter on the sister show "It Takes Two".

15.

At the age of eight Karen Hardy was diagnosed with a rare and acute form of ear cancer.