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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Judi James & Zara Woodcock

Strictly Helen and Gorka's dance sparks 'warfare' between judges, body language expert says

Strictly Come Dancing star Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez's dance has 'sparked warfare between the judges', a body language expert claimed.

The Countryfile presenter Cha Cha Cha'd to Lady Gaga's hit song Rain On Me, which impressed most of the judges.

She received a score of 27 from the judges, with Craig Revel Horwood telling her that the routine was 'technically very poor'.

"It will never look good unless you have got a straight leg darling," he said.

However, Anton Du Beke awarded them eight points and said: "You started off and I and went: 'Yeah baby,' and when you finished I wanted to say, 'Yeah baby'."

According to body language expert Judi James, there was a 'body language battlefield' with the couple and the judges.

They danced to Rain On Me (BBC)

She exclusively revealed to the Mirror : "This was a body language battlefield, not just for Helen and Gorka but an even bigger and more open spat broke out between the judges as they gave their comments.

"Helen and Gorka are the most well-matched couple of the series in terms of physicality and personality. They mirror each other enough to suggest instant rapport. It should be an easy and complimentary ‘fit’ and for the start of their Cha Cha they looked more like a professional dance couple than one pro and one celebrity amateur.

"However, it lost some of its dynamic confidence as it went on and the result was open warfare between the judges and some more masked but equally telling body language ‘banter’ between Helen and Gorka themselves."

They received a score of 27 (BBC)

She continued: "The judges do have joke fall-outs but his one looked more authentic, with signals of what appeared to be states of aggressive arousal all round. Craig used the word ‘poor’, referring to a mistake made ‘all the way through’.

"Shirley kicked off, shouting ‘not all the way’ bringing out a stabbing, pointing finger that she aimed first at Craig before bringing it down on the desk. This mimed attack was returned with interest by Craig, who also started pointing.

"Motsi sat between them pretending to dance to keep the peace but even she threw her hands in the air with an expression of open-mouthed shock."

Judi discussed the couple's body language (BBC)

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She went on to discuss Helen and Gorka's body language as they waited for the scores from the judges.

"Helen and Gorka stood waiting for their scores and Helen seemed to need to offload some criticism of Gorka," Judi revealed.

"It was done playfully but Gorka’s ‘No!’ and his emphatic mouth grimaces suggested he wasn’t happy. Helen shouted about getting her leg positions corrected in a rather firm way and she also used the pointed finger more than once to refer to Gorka.

"Referring to ‘The kind of person who likes to stand in front of a mirror’ she pointed at Gorka again and although he seemed to agree, these little acts of ‘fun’ banter are so early in the competition that they might just warn of a fiery relationship brewing on and off the dancefloor. It’s traditional for the celebs to be putty in the hands of their pro partners for at least a few weeks, but there were no signs of that between Helen and Gorka tonight."

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