Clifton won the sixteenth series of Strictly with his celebrity partner Stacey Dooley, with whom he has been in a relationship since 2019.
In March 2020, Clifton announced that he wouldn't be returning to Strictly, saying that he wanted to focus on "other areas of his career.
Clifton is a four-time British Latin Champion and won 14 International Open titles in Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Japan, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Belgium.
From January 2008 to June 2013, Clifton and his future wife Karen Hauer were principal dancers of the Burn The Floor Dance Company, performing in the show's record breaking Broadway run, as well as starring at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End.
They rejoined Burn The Floor as principal dancers for a short tour of Australia and Japan in Spring 2014.
He won the 2013 Strictly Come Dancing Pro Challenge[11] becoming the Guinness World Records holder for most Drunken Sailors in 30 seconds[12] The couple's popularity ensured they reached the final,[13] on 21 December, where they finished as runners up with Natalie Gumede behind model Abbey Clancy.
In 2015, Clifton, recently married to co-professional dancer Karen Hauer, returned for the thirteenth series of the show and was partnered up with EastEnders actress Kellie Bright.
Bright and Clifton scored a perfect 40 for their Tango and Showdance and eventually finished as joint runners up with Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice.
From March to April 2022, he starred as the Artilleryman in the tour of Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds.
[20] In 2023, Clifton appeared in Aladdin for a Pantomime run set for six-weeks at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre.
[citation needed] He then married fellow professional dancer Karen Hauer, having proposed to her on her birthday, on stage during a performance of Burn the Floor.
[28] In June 2023, Clifton appeared on BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are?, where he discovered he was a direct descendant of Matooskie, an Indigenous Canadian woman.
[30] As well as taking part in various charity campaigns and visits in his role as a Strictly professional, Clifton is also a patron of the Wheelchair DanceSport Association[31] and the 2014 Dance Proms.