Jowita Przystal marked a year since her big Strictly Come Dancingmoment with Pete Wicks as he shared a gushing tribute on her own special day.

The professional dancer is currently preparing to return to the ballroom, having been named in the professional line-up for the hit BBC One dance show this year.

She’ll be back alongside Amy Dowden, Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Nikita Kuzmin, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez and Luba Mushtuk who were also confirmed to be involved in the 2025 series by the BBC earlier this year.

Dianne Buswell, Katya Jones, Johannes Radebe, Michelle Tsiakkas, Aljaž Škorjanec, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Vito Coppola are all also taking to the dance floor once again this year.

While it’s not yet known if she’ll get a celebrity partner this year, with the line-up now confirmed ahead of the launch next month, fans will recall that last year, Jowita was partnered with reality star and podcast host Pete.

They made it all the way to the semi-final, departing the competition during week 12, leading them to missing out on a place in the final, as they landed in the dance-off for the first time alongside eventual finalists Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec.

Months on from the end of Strictly’s 20th-anniversary series and Pete and Jowita have proven that their friendship is still going strong as Pete shared a sweet message to mark the dancer’s birthday.

Taking to Instagram on Friday (August 22), Pete shared pictures from their time on Strictly as well as times they’ve spent together since, including at an Oasis gig earlier this month.

Alongside the images, the reality star and podcast host wrote: “It was never about dancing…it was about the person. Happy birthday @jowitaprzystal – I am so blessed and grateful to have you in my life. My pocket rocket.”

Birthday girl Jowita was quick to respond, simply writing: “Thank you,” in the comments section alongside a face holding back tears emoji and a love heart.

She also shared the post to her Instagram Story, which is when she shared: “And this photo was taken exactly a year ago [face holding back tears emoji],” referring to the snap taken the day they discovered they’d be a partnership on Strictly 2024. “My fav birthday gift [love heart eyes emoji],” Jowita added.

It comes after Pete recently spoke about the impact Jowita has had on his life, as he admitted that she ‘dragged’ him through to the penultimate week of Strictly last year.

He said: “A lot of that [making it to the semi-finals] if I’m totally honest, is down to Jowita. She was the best partner I could have had… she’s become one of the most important in my life.”

“She’s one of my best mates, and I adore her. She had to put up with me, she dragged me through it, because it certainly wasn’t the dancing,” he added to Mail Online.