Gemma Atkinson has shared the adorable moment her daughter got a shoutout on stage as she finally got to see her dad Gorka Marquez perform. The Hits Radio host travelled down to London on Saturday (May 14) to watch her husband-to-be in action as he takes to the stage in the Strictly Come Dancing Professionals tour.
Last month, Spanish dancer Gorka shared his excitement at his fiancée and their little girl Mia, who turns three in July, coming to see him and his co-stars as they opened the 2022 tour at The Lowry in Salford. As he called Manchester 'home', Gorka joked to us : "They’ll come along and support me and hopefully, Mia doesn’t jump on the stage a want to dance."
However, poor Mia was struck down with the chickenpox, and Gemma was left to head to the show without her little girl in tow. "She missed the show with her chickenpox so papa got her a programme," the mum-of-one shared on Instagram at the time as her daughter browsed the glossy booklet.
But Mia finally got the chance to watch her dad dance live on stage, for only the second time, as he and fellow dancers including Dianne Buswell, Kai Widdrington, and Karen Hauer took to the stage at the London Palladium on Saturday. Gemma took to Instagram to share some clips from the spectacular show.
One featured Gorka talking about being a father himself as an image of him and Mia appeared on the giant screen behind him. He then looked into the crowd as the camera then panned to show the toddler sat on her mum's knee looking pleased with her shoutout as the audience applauded.
"Do you know what, I'm the luckiest man in the world to have, in this beautiful theatre, my fiancée and my princess," he said to the thousands of people in the audience. Responding to her other half's beautiful words, Bury-born Gemma said: "How Incredibly lucky we are to have you. And how incredibly proud we are watching you dance @gorka_marquez."
The former Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actress also shared another stunning clip of Gorka and dance partner Karen recreating one of their much-loved routines from the last series of the BBC One dance contest, which aired from September to December last year. Jumping straight into the comments, Gorka said: " I love you both so much!" with a string of heart emojis.
And it moved Gemma's followers to tears. @ terhitchings commented: "Awe this made me cry." @phoebealexandrahardcastle said: "This made me well up! So beautiful." @misch888 posted a string of hearts before asking: "Who’s peeling onions."
Gorka has since taken to Instagram himself to share snaps of the family-of-three backstage with Mia looking Strictly ready in a blue sequined jacket as her proud parents beamed for the camera. "My girls came to watch me Dance @glouiseatkinson I love you." Gemma then replied: "Loved it!!!"
Gemma met Gorka on Strictly in 2017 when she was paired with fellow pro dancer Aljaz Skorjanec and he danced with singer Alexandra Burke on the BBC celeb dance contest. The loved-up couple welcomed Mia into the world in July 2019 and Gorka popped the question during a romantic dog walk on Valentine's Day last year.
