Helen Skelton sparks ‘sudden panic’ with Strictly Come Dancing competition claim on BBC’s The One Show

Helen Skelton caused an awkward silence when she revealed who she thinks her biggest competitor is on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Countryfile presenter, 39, from Cumbria, has made it to the sixth week of the BBC series, alongside her partner Gorka Marquez.

A day ahead of Saturday’s performance, which celebrated 100 years of the BBC, Helen and Gorka appeared on The One Show.

The dancing duo sat on the famous green sofa on Friday (21 October), as they spoke about all things Strictly with hosts Alex Jones and Ronan Keating.

Former Boyzone singer Ronan, asked the pair who they thought their biggest competition in the ballroom was.

Gorka, who was unwilling to give a name, explained: “This year is a very good series, everybody is so good and the level is so equal, that we don’t really know what is going to happen in any week.”

Alex then directed the question at Helen, who simply answered: “Tony Adams”.

There was a moment of silence in the studio, before Helen explained herself.

She said: “No, you’re saying that like it’s a bad thing. Tony Adams came into this as the comedy but he’s so good, isn’t he?”

As Helen looked to Gorka for support, her Spanish dance partner began to agree.

“Last week to be fair, he was excellent,” Alex added.

Posting on Twitter, one viewer claimed Helen’s answer caused a “sudden panic” as she may have sounded sarcastic by saying that the former football manager was her biggest competitor.

On Saturday, Helen and Gorka scored 35 points from the judges after their Charleston to the Blue Peter theme tune.

The energetic dance left them in first place, whilst Tony Adams and his partner Katya Jones sat at the bottom of the board with only 19 points.

However, Tony and Katya did make it through to next week - after the public decided to eliminate comedian Jayde Adams and her partner Karen Hauer.