Strictly fans have enjoyed seeing her grow in confidence week after week on the the BBC One dance contest and Helen Skelton was literally jumping for joy after she performed in Blackpool. Former Blue Peter presenter Helen and her pro dance partner Gorka beamed through their energetic quickstep to Valerie by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse on Saturday night (November 19).
The pair were highly praised by the judges, and Helen was brimming with excitement as she and Gorka joined host Claudia Winkleman for a chat. Helen gushed how the dance had filled her with joy and brought back memories of running down a hill as a child when you're running so fast "you think your legs are going so fall off."
"I came into this to have a good time," she told Claudia. "Sometimes as an adult you don't take those moments of pure joy." As she spoke Helen, 39, clocked that Gorka, 32, was wiping his eyes and she paused to check in on him.
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"Are you sweating?" she asked. "No I'm crying," he replied. "Not yet babe," she jokingly told him. As Helen continued to say how much she's enjoying her Strictly journey, saying "it's such a privilege", she halted the chat again as she noticed Gorka still appeared to be 'crying.'
She remarked: "It's not that emotional." And he clarified that he was infact sweating, not crying and said: "It's the sweat, sorry." The pair were awarded a near-perfect 39 points out of 40 from the judges.
Last month there was a surprise moment on Strictly Come Dancing when Gorka halted the proceedings to deliver some bolstering words to Helen. In a clearly unexpected from-the-heart speech earlier in the series, Gorka pleaded with his dance partner to 'believe in you'.
In emotional scenes Gorka took time out to praise Countryfile star Helen as he addressed the 'difficult time' she's been having. As she spoke to Claudia on the live show he stepped in and asked: "Can I just say something?"
He then turned to Helen and said: "I know you've have been having a difficult time and I know you've been ... you may feel like you're not beautiful or good enough or anything, but if you don't believe in yourself, I believe in you. Everybody here believes in you."
Cheers broke out from the fellow competitors and Claudia added: "We all believe in you." Gorka then added: "It doesn't matter how many times I say it, or the judges say it, or anybody says it it's only you who is going to be the one who can make the change and the one who needs to believe in you, because you are an amazing woman, very inspirational."
He added: "An amazing mum and incredible dancer, so believe in you please." While the audience started applauding, and Gorka was widely praised on social media, Helen looked awkward.
She announced back in April that her eight year marriage to Leeds Rhinos rugby player Richie Myler had ended, four months after she gave birth to their third child. Helen and Richie welcomed their baby daughter Elsie Kate on December 28. They also have two young sons Ernie, seven, and Louis, five.
In an interview with The Sun she was asked about her reaction to Gorka's speech. “What I love about Gorka is that he has my very best interests at heart, and we are genuinely very good friends,” she said.
“But sometimes, maybe, we need to talk about what he’s allowed to say publicly . . .“I was like, 'Oh God, where is he going with this?’ That’s why I jumped on the table, to shut him up!"
Speaking about her supportive dance partner, she said Gorka brings her coffee and a pastry every morning "because I’m losing so much weight, training constantly and doing the show." And he writes on the coffee cup "you’re brilliant, you’ve got this." She explained: "Because he knows I’d be mortified and embarrassed if he did it to my face."
Announcing her marriage heartbreak earlier this year she wrote on social media: "Very sad to say that Richie and I are no longer a couple." She said: "He has left the family home. We will be doing our best to co-parent our small children." Richie went Instagram official with new partner Stephanie Thirkill when they attended Wimbledon together this summer.
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