Helen Skelton is taking solace in the wild reaction she and pro partner Gorka Marquez got from the studio audience on Saturday night, as they lost out on the Glitterball trophy to Hamza and Jowita.
Former Blue Peter presenter Helen and now three time finalist Gorka were many people's pick for victory, heading into Saturday's series finale and ended up finishing second on the leaderboard after completing their three performances. They earned a near perfect 39 out of 40 for their opening jive, before getting 37 for their emotionally charged Show Dance.
The Couple's finest moment in the Strictly final arrived when they closed the show with their amazing Couple's Choice number. Helen and Gorka scored 39 for the Cabaret inspired routine just two weeks earlier in the quarter final, but went one better on Saturday, when Craig Revel-Horwood was swayed to dust off his 10 paddle, telling them it was a 'winner worthy' performance.
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If scoring 40 out of 40 for the dance wasn't enough, it was definitely the number that got the biggest reaction in the ballroom during the final, with the crowd refusing to be silenced as Tess Daly tried to get a handle on proceedings.
And, as she finally broke her silence on what happened in the final, by way of an Instagram post early on Monday morning, before appearing on Lorraine, Helen addressed the wild reception from the studio audience, saying it was somethinmg she'd 'never forget.'
Next to a slide show of images from her time on the show, Helen wrote: ""Huge congratulations @jowitaprzystal and @hamzayassin90 you’ve been brill all series! @mollyrainford @gkx_carlos your next chapters will be epic. @fleureast @vitocoppola you will always be the people I try to be more like."
Then homing in on Gorka and the reaction the near chaos their Couple's Choice caused on Saturday, Helen added: " But the man of the hour for me is Mr @gorka_marquez I will be forever proud of how hard we worked, how we carried ourselves and how far we went.
"For me the reaction in that room said everything we didn’t need to. I will be forever grateful for your friendship and how you have kept my counsel. We didn’t take the ball but we did blow the roof off that place and that is a feeling I will NEVER forget."
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