Iveta Lukošiūtė

Lukošiūtė was born in Klaipėda, Lithuania on 29 June 1980. Lukošiūtė began learning ballroom dance at the age of 6 when she was accepted as a student at the Žuvėdra Ballroom Dance School. She danced for pop groups, concerts and festivals throughout Lithuania, and appeared in several music videos.[1]

Lukošiūtė married Jenya Raytses in August 2017[2] and they have two children together.[3][4]

Lukošiūtė moved to Woodside, New York in 2003, where she went on to gain numerous dance titles including World Professional Ten Dance Champion, five time U.S. National & North American Professional Ten Dance Champion, four time U.S. National Classical Showdance Champion and two times World Classical Showdance Finalist.[5]

In 2011, Lukošiūtė appeared on the eighth season of So You Think You Can Dance. She reached the top 20, however was eliminated on in the first week of competition.[6]

In September 2012, Lukošiūtė was announced to be joining the Strictly Come Dancing as a replacement for Aliona Vilani who sustained an injury,[7][8] Lukošiūtė was paired with Vilani's partner, TV presenter Johnny Ball, who was the oldest ever contestant to appear on the show. They were the first couple to be eliminated from the series.[9] Lukošiūtė returned to the show for the eleventh series where she was paired with actor Mark Benton.[10] The pair landed in the dance-off four consecutive times, a Strictly record before being eliminated in the ninth week, leaving them in 7th place.[11] In Lukošiūtė's final series, she was paired with rugby player and model Thom Evans,[12] they were eliminated in week five of the competition which was described as a shock, leaving them in 12th place.[13]

Whilst appearing on Strictly Come Dancing, Lukošiūtė made guest appearances on British television chat shows such as Daybreak, Loose Women and The One Show.[14]

Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance

(*) Excludes extra score given by guest judge.