Gorka Marquez has shared the moment his little girl got to reunite with Will Mellor following their first meeting last year. It was no secret during the 2022 run of Strictly Come Dancing that the dancer's daughter, Mia, was not only supporting him and Helen Skelton on the show.
Three-year-old Mia was also backing actor Will and his professional dancer party Nancy Xu after she developed a little crush on the former Two Pints of Lager star. And on Saturday night (January 29) Gorka headed off with fiancee Gemma Atkinson, who is pregnant with their second child together, to watch both Will and Helen in action as they performed at Manchester's AO Arena.
The family-of-three were among the string of familiar faces who attended the Strictly Come Dancing Live show in the city as a raft of the show's 2022 alumni and cast of professional dancers tour the country for the next few weeks.
Before heading to the show, which saw Will and Nancy lift the Manchester Glitterball trophy in a triumphant homecoming for the Bredbury-born star, Gemma joked that she'd 'need security' for Mia as she reminisced about her own stint on the Strictly Live tour in 2018 after competing in the 2017 series against her now-husband-to-be.
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 Will and dance partner Nancy thanks to Mia's sweet crush.
But security wasn't needed as Mia appeared to be all shy when she came face-to-face with Will again. Filming the moment backstage, Gorka's video showed Mia holding onto her mum's hand as she spoke to the former Coronation Street star before he gave her a warm hug.
Setting the video to classic Gabrielle track, Dreams, Gorka, 32, wrote: "Mia got so chuffed to see @willmellor76 before the show." Gemma, 38, also reshared the adorable video to her own Instagram Story and wrote: "Will's always so lovely to her," alongside a heart and face holding back tears.
And Gemma was keen to share how 'lucky' her daughter, who is going to be a big sister to a little brother later this year, is. Sharing a video of her intently watching Will and Nancy perform his Dirty Dancing-inspired routine from Movie Week to Cry To Me, the Hits Radio host wrote: "The whole of the Strictly gang are always so lovely with her.
"Every pro dancer and all backstage crew all took time last night to crouch down to her, hug her, encouraging her to keep dancing and telling her how lovely she looked," Gemma said alongside another face holding back tears emoji. "She's so lucky to be able to spend time with such creative, talented individuals."
Meanwhile, Gemma also caught her man watching closely to Helen's performance with Kai Widdrington after his absence from the tour meant the Countryfile host, and Strictly 2022 finalist, had to swap partners. The Spanish dancer then posted the video of Helen and Kai performing the iconic Mein Her routine from the series as he wrote: "Bravooo," alongside a heart and applause emojis.
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