Gemma Atkinson shared an insight on her time on Strictly Come Dancing with Gorka Marquez as she said “absolutely not” when she was asked a question by a podcast listener
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Gemma Atkinson told her partner Gorka Marquez “absolutely not” when asked one important question about their time on the show together.
The former Hollyoaks and Emmerdale actress met the professional dancer when she appeared on Strictly in 2017.
Despite meeting on the BBC show Gemma and Gorka were not partnered on the series – Gemma reached the final with Aljaz Skorjanec while Gorka was also a runner-up alongside singer Alexandra Burke.
On their podcast Lost in Translation, one listener asked if Gemma, 40, wishes they had been “paired together from the start”.
The actress offered a blunt response, saying: “No, absolutely not.” Gorka interjected and said dancing together on the Christmas special “was enough”.
Gemma continued: “You training me wasn’t good. You were telling me what to do because that was your job.”
According to his partner, Gemma doesn’t like being told what to do by the dancer.
She responded: “And I kept saying, do not tell me to do five, six, seven, eight when I want to do just six and seven.”
Gemma and Gorka share daughter Mia, six, and two-year-old son Thiago.
Spanish dancer Gorka has finished runner-up on Strictly three times – with Alexandra Burke, former EastEnders actress Maisie Smith and TV presenter Helen Skelton.
He wasn’t partnered with a celebrity on the current series due to his filming commitments on the Spanish version of the show, Bailando con las Estrellas (which translates as Dancing with the Stars).
During their podcast Gorka, 35, waxed lyrically about the work his partner does to keep their household running while he is travelling for work.
He said: “There is no day that I’m not amazed by the things that you do. I was in Spain, I was talking with my friends and they asked: ‘Oh, so what is Gemma doing?’
“What is she not doing? She’s doing this, she’s doing that, these new things. I’m amazed at how successful you are in every way, how much you worry, all the things that you do.
“And also I go away and the kids are still being fed, dressed, changed, yes I might come home and I go, no, Gemma, you live everywhere, but still, our house with the two children, a dog and all the businesses and all the things that you do, is still running, so amazing, you know what I mean.”
Gemma though seems less than impressed with how much time her partner spends away from the family home.
She fired back: “I sometimes say to him, ‘listen, it’s not open heart surgery. You’re not saving a life.'”
Catch Strictly Come Dancing: The Results from 7.15pm to 8pm this evening (Sunday, October 26) on BBC One.