Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Leeds Live
Leeds Live
Entertainment
Ashleigh Rainbird & Victoria Scheer

Helen Skelton fled through fire escape moments before Strictly debut

Presenter Helen Skelton has admitted that she was so overcome by stage fright, she fled through a fire escape and was crying before her first Strictly performance.

Watching her spin across the dancefloor on Saturday, no one would've been able to guess what a bundle of nerves the Countryfile star was right before the show. Helen and professional dance partner, Gorka Márquez, went straight to the top of the leaderboard, after wowing the audience and judges alike.

However, the Radio 5 Live host said she was out of her comfort zone and broke down in tears before the performance. Gorka, 32, had to gently coax the mum-of-three back, the Mirror reports.

Read more: Good Morning Britain fans slam Susanna Reid for 'awkward' haircut comment

While she insists she is “really enjoying” the Strictly experience, the ­39-year-old said of Saturday’s debut on the BBC show: “I had a little cry. I’m normally cool, calm and collected. I got on the dance floor and they said, ‘When the audience come in...’ and I went, ‘Oh crikey, yeah, there’s people.

"I was like, ‘There’s a fire door, there, I can get out of it,’ and I did. And Gorka found me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Just having a minute.’ I literally ran. It was like when I did Celeb SAS, I tried to escape that."

Helen Skelton and Gorka Márquez (BBC)

She added: "I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but it’s very weird. Personal space? You wave goodbye to that.

"Boundaries are non-existent. You walk in and they go, ‘Do you want a fake tan?’ Before you know it you’re naked with a load of people spraying you."

On Saturday, Helen and Gorka danced the American Smooth to You Send Me by Aretha Franklin, and were placed 6th on the leaderboard with a ­respectable score of 26. The pair got barely any criticism from the judges, despite the panel dishing out plenty to the dancers before them.

Bookies’ favourite Will Mellor and partner Nancy Xu topped the board. Paralympian Ellie Simmonds, 27, was photographed beaming on the way back to her hotel after her cha cha with dance partner Nikita Kuzmin.

Comedian Jayde Adams was also spotted. She had danced a rumba with Karen Hauer.

Read next:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.