Helen Skelton suffered an 'awkward' moment when she realised she was morphing in to her Strictly Come Dancing co-star - or should we say his on-screen character. The Countryfile host made it all the way to the final of the BBC One dance contest at the end of last year alongside professional dance partner Gorka Marquez.
One of her fellow competitors in the series was James Bye who is known for playing Martin Fowler in EastEnders. And while watching a recent episode of the BBC One soap, Helen, 39, realised that she appears to have the same fashion taste as James' on-screen alter ego.
The former Blue Peter host shared a video to her Instagram Stories, where she could be seen stood in front of the TV donning the same leather and fur coat as James' fictional character, Martin. "Awkward when you realise you’re wearing @jimmybye on screen wardrobe in real life," she wrote alongside the video.
The post came before Helen was seen for the first time with her new dance partner. The mum-of-three is currently preparing to hit the road in the Strictly Live tour which will visit arenas up and down the country. But she won't be dancing with Gorka, 32, after he wasn't included in the show's line-up.
Instead, she'll be dancing with Kai Widdrington, who exited last year's series in week one after being paired with Loose Women star Kaye Adams. During rehearsals, Helen uploaded a snap to her Instagram story which saw her and Kai joined by co-stars Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu, who were also finalists in Strictly 2022.
Helen said the group were 'putting the world to rights' as they took a breather from the dancing. Meanwhile, Gorka has since addressed why he didn't agree to take part in the tour.
After ignoring questions, while taking part in a new Instagram Q&A as he headed on a work trip to Miami, Gorka finally shared that it comes down to his family. The Spanish-born star, who is engaged to Gemma Atkinson and dad to their daughter Mia, said: "After the Strictly series I always like to take some down time to spend quality time with Gem and Mia."
He continued: "I am grateful for the work but I also think spending time with family is important. Time flies and we won't get those memories back." But he did have another message for fans. Sharing a picture of himself and Helen, 39, following their reunion earlier this week, the 32-year-old said: "But please do go and watch @strictlycomedancinglive it's gonna be amazing!!"
He also added: "And make sure you VOTE for @helenskelton and @kaiwidd." It comes after he joked that he'd be a 'proud dad' when he heads to see the show himself at Manchester's AO Arena. Meeting up in the city earlier this week, fans were thrilled to see them back together as Gorka later took to Instagram with a series of selfies of the pair on the soggy city centre streets.
But the weather didn't dampen their spirits as the pair stuck their tongues out at the camera. "Quick coffee catch up with this one today before she goes on tour with the rest of the Strictly Gang," Gorka typed alongside the post. Can’t wait to come and watch you dance at the Manchester show and be cheering you like a proud dad. Have the best Time @helenskelton," he sweetly added.
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