Gemma Atkinson jokingly said she was making it 'about her' as she looked back on her time on Strictly Come Dancing ahead of watching the show live in Manchester. The Hits Radio host took part in the BBC One dance contest back in 2017 where she made it all the way to the final with former pro Aljaž Škorjanec.
While the pair were pipped to the Glitterball trophy by former Holby City star Joe McFadden and his partner Katya Jones, Gemma walked away with a lot more than that. It was on Strictly that she met her dancer fiance Gorka Marquez. Romance blossomed for the 38-year-old and the Spanish dancer, who also made it to the final of that series with Alexandra Burke, when the pair joined Strictly's live tour.
They went public with their romance shortly after their time on the road came to an end and just over a year later, in July 2019, the loved-up couple welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Mia. And back on Valentine's Day in 2021, Gorka, 32, popped the question and Gemma said 'Yes'.
The recent series of Strictly saw Gorka dancing with Helen Skelton with the pair making it all the way to December's final. But despite the pair being within touching distance of the Glitterball trophy during the final in December, which was instead lifted by Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystał, Helen has had to swap dance partners for the string of 2023 live shows.
She has been paired with Kai Widdrington after Gorka chose not to sign up for the tour in order to spend time with his family. However, both Gorka and Gemma, who was the pair's number one supporter during the TV dance competition will be in the audience for one of the Manchester shows on Saturday (January 28).
Taking to Instagram, Gemma shared a string of images from her time on Strictly six years ago. In the first snap, the former Emmerdale and Hollyoaks star looked sensational in a gold tasselled outfit while parading her stunning figure with a tanned glow and her backcombed blonde locks.
There was also a behind-the-scenes selfie taken with Gorka, Giovanni Pernice and Luba Mushtuk and another showing Gemma and Gorka, who are preparing to become parents for a second time after announcing they're expecting a baby boy in the summer, getting rather up close and personal.
"Off to watch the Strictly Tour today so making it all about ME and MY time on the show," she laughed in the caption. Helen was quick to reply: "Looking forward to seeing you." But Gemma then continued: "Excited to see Mia's reaction to everyone doing their thing. I may need security for when she sees Will Mellor. She’ll be like me at a Backstreet Boys concert."
It comes after Gemma and Gorka spoke out about their three-year-old's affection for actor Will as she backed him every week on the show and was left nearly in tears when he left just before the final. Last week, Gemma, from Bury, revealed how Gorka is still having to remember the routines from his latest stint on Strictly - but not his own. He's had to remember those of actor Will Mellor and dance partner Nancy Xu thanks to Mia's little crush on Will.
The second clip showed Mia rushing over to her dad who had already performed Will's finger wag from his movie week routine in which he transformed into Patrick Swayze to perform to Cry to Me from the hit movie, Dirty Dancing. Captioning the new dancing video on her Instagram Story, Gemma wrote: "@willmellor76 He's been forced to learn your dances too! We still get 'can we watch Will Melloorrhh," mimicking the way her daughter says the former Corrie star's name. And Will was clearly flattered still as he reshared the video to say how 'cute' it was.
And fans are hoping for more Mia and Will content after the pair met for the first time during the show's annual Blackpool week back in November. Commenting on Gemma's latest post, @mariefenlon8718 said: "I hope you record her reaction to wil mellllllor." @lisa_macdonald__ echoed: "Please film her reaction!!" @mummyboo86 added: "OMG PLEASE share when she meets him. This is the biggest love story Strictly has ever had."
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