Strictly Come Dancing: Helen Skelton pauses discussion as Gorka Marquez seems to be ‘crying’

Helen Skelton showed concern for her dance partner Gorka Marquez when he appeared to be overcome with emotion after Saturday night’s BBC Strictly Come Dancing performance.

The Countryfile presenter, 39, from Cumbria, and the professional dancer, 32, wowed the judges again this week with their ‘quickstep’ performance at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom to Mark Ronson’s hit Valerie featuring the late Amy Winehouse.

After their energetic routine, they spoke to presenter Claudia Winkleman about the dance.

“I came into this to have a good time, Sometimes as an adult, you don’t take those moments of pure joy,” Helen said.

As she was speaking she looked at her dance partner Gorka and paused to ask: "Are you sweating?"

He replied: “No I’m crying".

The Countryfile presenter continued speaking to Claudia until she noticed Gorka appearing to wipe away tears.

Helen commented:  "It’s not that emotional."

The father-of-one claimed that he wasn’t crying and was in fact just “sweating”.

Helen shared a picture of the couple’s performance with her 383,000 Instagram followers and has racked up over 12,000 likes. She penned the caption: “Thank you for being on this crazy adventure with us! Thank you for getting us to Blackpool and beyond. @gorka_marquez you did it again 👏👏👏 take a bow!!”

The dance couple just missed out on a perfect score for their performance, with all the judges awarding them top marks (ten) except Craig Revel Horwood who awarded them a nine.

BBC Strictly Come Dancing returned to Blackpool at the weekend after a two-year absence due to covid. After Helen and Gorka’s performance, the audience cheered loudly, and judge Anton du Beck claimed: “this is why we come to Blackpool for that reaction”.

In the pre-performance video, Helen and Gorka stopped off at a local pub where Helen described her feelings of nostalgia about being in Blackpool.

The former Blue Peter presenter explained to the professional dancer that as a Northerner “Blackpool is a place that holds a special part of your heart”. She regularly takes her children to Blackpool and “they love it”.

Helen has three children Ernie, seven, Louis, five and Elsie, 11 months, with ex-husband Leeds Rhinos player, Richie Myler. The pair split in April after eight years of marriage.