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Simon Duke

Strictly's Gorka Marquez 'swaps' dance partner after Helen Skleton score boost

Gorka Marquez briefly traded Helen Skelton in for another dance partner on Wednesday, with the celeb in question instantly recognisable to Strictly Come Dancing fans.

Gorka and Helen had a rather rough start to their time on Strictly, with Helen battling a severe lack of self-confidence, so much so that the former Blue Peter star fled rehearsals through a fire exit, before being coaxed back in by Gorka and ending up in tears. Former finalist Gorka has willed Helen to believe in herself more , taking drastic action in rehearsals when he surrounded her with mirrors so she had to look at herself.

His teaching methods have paid off though as on Saturday, Gorka and Helen got their highest score of the series to date, after taking to the BBC ballroom to perform a routine to Grease classic Hopelessly Devoted to You for Movie Week. The pair received plenty of positive feedback and a score of 31, including three 8s, from the judges.

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Crucially, Gorka and Helen also got the backing of the voting public, managing to avoid the dance-off once again and, this Saturday night, will dance a Paso Doble as they bid to continue their scores' upward trend. However, it wasn't Helen who Gorka was dancing with in a video he uploaded to Instagram early on Wednesday morning.

And the person in Helen's place was none other than Gorka's other half and mother of his child, former Strictly star Gemma Atkinson. Ex Hollyoaks star turned radio DJ Gemma made the final in 2017, alongside pro partner Aljaz. Gorka joked that Gemma had 'asked him to teach her the waltz at 6am' with the couple seen dancing around a gym.

Strictly's Gorka Marquez dancing with Gemma Atkinson (Instagram)

Later on in the day, Gorka reunited with Helen, uploading a picture of her hiding underneath a blanket in rehearsals.

After being installed as bookies' favourite to win Strictly 2022 right before the first live show, Helen was overtaken by Will Mellor in the odds but its still well favoured to last a long time in the ballroom.

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