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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Rose Hill

Strictly's Helen Skelton delighted by pro pairing - but points out issue

Helen Skelton has shared her delight at being paired with Strictly pro Gorka Marquez - but admitted that there is one tiny problem.

The Countryfile presenter, 39, will be competing for the Glitterball with friend Gemma Atkinson's partner Gorka this year.

And while Helen has been the bookies' favourite to win the show, she herself has admitted that she was baffled and referred to herself as dancing like an "old trotter".

Speaking to the Mirror ahead of her debut on the dancefloor, she said that she was ecstatic to be paired with Gorka, but shocked some of her fellow co-stars when she said how far away his home was from hers.

She revealed: "I first said that [Gorka] was who I wanted, because I know Gemma and we've got loads of mutual friends, he lives not that far... well. North and south are very different places - I was like, 'Gorka's not that far away, he's like an hour and a half!' And Fleur was like, 'What?! I travel 40 minutes to work and that's massive!'

"Even coming here they were like, 'The hotel's miles away' and I was like, 'What are you talking about?! I walked!'"

She will be paired with Gorka on this year's show (BBC)

She previously dismissed concerns that she'll find it difficult to fit Strictly into her busy schedule, insisting that viewers often think that she works more than she does.

Helen - who is mum to seven-year-old Ernie, five-year-old Louis and baby Elsie - downplayed her busy life ahead of taking part in the show.

"People say we're busy because our life is public but most parents who are working parents go to work and go home," she said.

"Whereas when we go to work, people see it. Also I find that a lot of the time now, amazingly, a lot of the people that I work with now are really efficient so you get a lot done in a day. In our world, or in my world in particular, you can film or record three things in a day and it's like you've been at work in a week."

*Strictly airs Saturday 24 September on BBC One

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