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Aaron Morris

Strictly's Helen Skelton admits that she 'underestimated' BBC dance competition - 'it's so much more than that'

Strictly Come Dancing star Helen Skelton has admitted that she 'underestimated' the coveted BBC One dance competition - describing the show as 'so much more' two months after her debut.

The former Blue Peter presenter explained all while sitting on the Strictly: It Takes Two sofa this evening, being quizzed on her journey so far by host Janette Manrara.

She was also joined by pro-partner Gorka Marquez who had some less than friendly comments regarding the judges' scores at the weekend - which saw them bag a pitiful 29 points out of 40.

Read more: Strictly's Fleur East says she 'wasn't surprised' to be in last weekend's dance-off for a third time

Addressing an 'emotional' couple of months for Helen, Janette said: "Helen, we saw in the VT that you've had an emotional few months really in your life, but what has Strictly really meant to you?"

To which, the mum of three replied: "Do you know what? I came into this and I underestimated it really, because I thought 'it's dancing and nice dresses, and interesting people' but it's weird. It's so much more than that.

Helen and Gorka appeared on tonight's instalment of Strictly: It Takes Two (bbc)

"You know, it makes you ask questions of yourself that you don't want to ask. I'm a 39-year-old woman with three kids and you do your job and your relationships and your house and your career and all of that, and you don't really just challenge yourself and find joy in yourself.

"So it's been a rollercoaster of emotions that I didn't expect."

She added: "If you're not used to it - you're not used to strutting into the middle of a dancefloor in a little dress and shaking it all about, it's a challenge...and I'm glad that I've taken that challenge on."

Helen received a studio-wide ovation for her honesty and performances thus far, before Janette turned her attention to Gorka and the scores the duo had bestowed upon them last weekend. Janette continued: "We need to talk about the scores. These are the lowest scores you've had, but how do you feel Gorka about the five from Craig (Revel-Horwood)?"

Gorka replied with a straight face: "I think he had a temperature maybe."

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