Helen Skelton proves friend who ‘didn’t think she had it in her’ wrong as she gets to week 9 of Strictly

Danny Clarke has admitted that he initially believed his friend Helen Skelton wouldn’t be able to thrive on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The TV presenter, 60, from Oxford, previously worked alongside Helen, 39, to transform gardens around the country on the BBC series Instant Gardener.

Speaking at the annual ITV Palooza gala event, he told The Mirror that Helen “deserves all the success she gets” and absolutely has what it takes to make it to the final of the popular BBC competition.

Danny continued to praise his friend, saying: "I think she’s tremendous. What you see is what you get with Helen, and she’s an amazing girl, and I think she’s going to do really well.”

"I have been voting for her and it’s great to see her doing really well, and she’s got amazing moves, I didn’t think she had it in her but she certainly has," he added.

The Love Your Garden star recalled a time when they were on location filming in Scotland and he caught a glimpse of Helen’s dancing potential.

He explained that they were on-location and blasting loud music without the cameras on, when he noticed that Helen has rhythm.

Danny admitted that he never thought she would go on Strictly but is not surprised that she’s doing well on the show.

During the filming of BBC’s Instant Gardener, Helen and Danny travelled up and down the country, and developed a strong friendship, whilst filming some impressive garden transformations.

Instant Gardener ran for two series from 2015, with Danny going on to join the Love Your Garden team alongside Alan Titchmarsh.

Helen and her Strictly dance partner Gorka Marquez, have remained an audience favourite after a series of impressive performances.

During last weekend’s show, the pair scored 32 for their Salsa performance which left them in fifth position on the leaderboard. But despite this, they are still strongly tipped for the Strictly final.

Helen and Gorka are heading to Blackpool this weekend to perform a Quickstep to Valerie, by Mark Ronson ft Amy Winehouse.

The Countryfile presenter has seen her personal life hit the headlines in recent months following her marriage breakdown, with ex-husband, Richie Myle, 32.

It was then revealed that Richie, the father of Helen’s three children, had already begun a new relationship and is expecting a baby with his new girlfriend.