Helen Skelton looked downcast as she was spotted publicly for the first time since the Strictly Come Dancing final.
The former Blue Peter presenter narrowly missed out on lifting the Glitterball Trophy last night [December 17], despite judges gushing over her final three performances with dance partner Gorka Márquez.
Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin, 33, and his professional dance partner Jowita Przystał sobbed during the live final after beating Helen, Molly Rainford, Fleur East and their respective partners to be crowned the winners of this year's series of the BBC show.
Helen cut a glum figure as she was pictured leaving her hotel today alongside her Strictly co-stars and heading into a waiting car, amid dance partner Gorka breaking his silence regarding his 'glum reaction' to Hamza's win.
The Countryfile presenter wore a casual ensemble of a black polo neck and matching coat for the short stroll to the motor.
Helen had been one of the favourites to win ahead of the final taking place last night, thanks to the nation falling in love with the presenter after a tough year amid the breakdown of her marriage.
As she closed the show earlier, Helen thanked her partner Gorka for his support throughout the series and called him a credit to the Strictly family.
The pair got standing ovations from judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse – and shouts of "Helen, Helen" from the crowd after their performance.
Motsi told the couple: "What a night, what a night, what a dance…that was amazing."
Anton Du Beke added: "This reaction is what we live for as performers."
The pair embraced as judges award them 40 points out of a possible 40 and showered them with praise.
Body language expert Judi James thinks the judges being so quick to heap praise on Helen was possibly the reason the mum-of-three failed to lift the Glitterball Trophy.
She explained to the Mirror how the voting public will not have liked seemingly being told who to crown their winner and voted Hamza to defy the judges' wishes.
"With the voting up to the public the judges went overboard for Helen and Gorka, calling them out as though they had already won. It was made by the judges to look like such a done deal for Helen that it almost didn’t look worth keeping tuned in for the actual result," Judi revealed when explaining why she thinks Hamza went all the way last night.
She added: "Nothing turns social media faster than being told who to vote for, though. Hamza is a great guy and a great dancer but given his overall scores on the night and his dodgy second dance he needed the contrariness of the public voters to give him the win.
"It’s not called the viewers’ vote for nothing and the more the judges pushed for Helen to win the faster those fingers would have been busy dialling up for Hamza."
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