Gemma Atkinson shares two-word response to Gorka Marquez being paired with Helen Skelton on BBC Strictly after praising star

Fleur East has explained the reason behind her emotional appearance following her latest performance on Strictly Come Dancing. The Hits Radio host was overcome with emotion as she finished her second routine of the brand new series of the BBC One show alongside professional dance partner Vito Coppola.

FANS were left confused last night after Strictly couple Giovanni Pernice and Richie Anderson sit SEPARATELY on It Takes Two. The pair - who dance together on the BBC competition - were separated during the show, while all the other celebrities sat side-by-side with their professional partners.

Strictly 's Tony Adams is the favourite to be booted off the show this weekend after managing to escape the first dance-off.

Gorka Marquez was back in the ballroom on Saturday night as he and new celebrity partner Helen Skelton competed in the second week of Strictly Come Dancing.

READ MORE: BBC Strictly's Giovanni Pernice trades dance costumes for a suit but his co-star mocks him for £18,000 jewellery Taking to Twitter, one fan said: "Seeing Gorka in that shirt. I think I am pregnant," while another added: "I may be slightly in love with Gorka. Just saying.

STRICTLY'S Helen Skelton and her pro-partner Gorka Marquez shared a hug as they ended a training session before last night’s live show. Helen, 39, was spotted in a cosy beige jumper and blue workout leggings with her hair tied up and embraced Gorka before hopping in her blue Audi 4x4.

Judge Motsi Mabuse quickly corrected herself and apologised after she mixed-up the names of two of the professional dancers on Strictly Come Dancing. As she critiqued Kym Marsh and Graziano Di Prima for their Viennese Waltz, she got his name muddled with fellow pro Italian dancer Giovanni Pernice.

Gemma Atkinson has told her Instagram followers she had a smear test scare. Former Hollyoaks and Emmerdale actress Gemma, 37, spoke about her 'horrible' month after being 'full of worry' after having cervical screening, which checks the health of the cervix to help prevent cancer.

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Helen Skelton was tasked with showing off her sexy side on the BBC dance show which she admitted to finding hard.During her training session, Helen's dancing partner Gorka Márquez told Helen she needed to be sexy for the routine in order to have more impact.Placing mirrors around her in order to enhance charisma, Gorka said: "So we're working on Helen's sexiness."He later added: However Countryfile star Helen who said she's "not sexy" struggled to portray sex appeal.She confessed: "I'm not sexy, I'm functional, I'm efficient."But fans at home picked up on Helen's comments and headed to Twitter to share their thoughts.One person wrote: "Helen thinks she isn’t sexy?! Ironic that makes her even sexier!"Another fan said: "When Helen said 'I'm not sexy, I'm functional and efficient.', I felt that on an emotional level." A third viewer penned: "I think @HelenSkelton is going to go on a journey. She talks herself down so much.

Helen Skelton may have had her confidence shaken in her marriage split but she showed dazzling form on the opening show – and pro partner Gorka Marquez is urging her to “believe she can do it”. The Countryfile presenter, 38, was devastated earlier this year when husband of eight years Richie Myler ended their relationship. And then, in the week she made her Strictly debut, the rugby league player referred to his new girlfriend as his “family”.

Helen Skelton collapsed on the ground after gruelling rehearsals with Strictly Come Dancing partner Gorka Marquez.

Helen Skelton, 39, signed up to Strictly Come Dancing following her heartbreaking split from Richie Myler, 32.The mother-of-three said she decided to put herself out there as she wanted to have fun and smile again in a move that's set to open "so many doors" for the Countryfile host.Ahead of her pairing with Gorka Marquez, a source claimed the presenter was open to finding love again.They told the Daily Mail: "This is quite the opposite of the Strictly curse. Helen has already lost the love of her life, now she wants to find a new one."She cannot wait to get stuck into it all, she has been through the most difficult of times, so this is going to open so many doors for her."Helen and Richie broke up just four months after she gave birth to their third child together, daughter Elsie.Prince Harry's move may 'cause irrevocable harm' to Sussex plansIn April, she wrote on Instagram: "Very sad to say Richie and I are no longer a couple.

Gemma Atkinson said she would like to “keep it real” with her fans as they have become like an “extended family” before going on to explain how her health has taken some worrying turns over the past month.The 37-year-old fitness guru, who is engaged to Strictly Come Dancing professional Gorka Márquez, 32, shared an honest post on her Instagram stories for her 1.8 million followers to read.Within the statement, she said: “Wanted to keep it real with you lot on here as its always like having an extended family.“It’s been a “bl**** horrible month.“Early Sept I had to have a colonoscopy from smear results that they weren’t happy with.Thankfully everything was fine, no issues at all, but the build up to waiting wasn’t great…“I think we automatically assume the worst as humans don’t we!”Sick with worry over her own health, Gemma went on to say things sadly went from bad to worse as the day after getting her colonoscopy results she had to have a tooth out.“I had my tooth out and then the dry socket [when a blood clot fails to develop in the tooth socket, causing an ache or throbbing pain] started which was agony for 10 days,” the former Emmerdale star explained.Slowly getting over her dental work, Gemma was hit with “another infection” which knocked her sideways, forcing her to take time off of her drivetime radio show at Hits Radio UK.“Thankfully getting over” her infection, the star, who has a young daughter Mia with fiancé Gorka said that the next problem she had to overcome was the worry her pooch Norman caused her.Writing in the post she said: “Yesterday Norman’s breathing went funny. Very shallow and fast.“They did some bloods and he too has an infection and the enzymes in his liver are high.

Strictly Come Dancing star Helen Skelton looked visibly exhausted after a sweaty dance rehearsal with pro partner Gorka Márquez.The Countryfile presenter, 39, appeared to have collapsed on the floor while practicing her Cha Cha – but thankfully managed a reassuring thumbs up to indicate she wasn't doing too badly. In the video shared on Gorka's Instagram, Helen and her pro partner could be seen joking about their tough schedule, which included appearing on ITV's Lorraine at 9.30am the next morning.

The Strictly Come Dancing journey kicked off last week with the brand new batch of 15 celebrities and their professional partners making their debut in the ballroom.

Strictly Come Dancing’s Helen Skelton collapsed after a brutal dance rehearsal with her professional dancer partner Gorka Marquez as they gear up for their next live performance.The 39-year-old presenter looked exhausted as she took a short video with Gorka in the rehearsal studio.She could be seen in the video as Gorka told viewers that it “was a wrap,” before he asked Helen if “she was alright”.READ MORE: Strictly's Kym Marsh confirms hidden health battle that could affect performanceThe Countryfile star gave him a thumbs up gesture and told him that she was “good” and Marquez joked: “You’re going to crawl to your bed.”Former Blue Peter star Helen replied: “To bed, I haven’t seen one in a while.”Training for the BBC dance competition begins early on and is a seemingly gruelling process - this year’s show appears to be no exception.Helen has been pushing herself to her limits and recently showed fans her sore feet, covered in blood on the heel.She typed: “And the aim of the game is to be sexy…not with these trotters,” and added the hashtag “no pain, no gain” with some laughing emojis.However, Helen has kept a positive attitude throughout the pain and shared a snap with Gorka while they tried with the message: “Feet on fire and head exploding but loving every second of this journey…”“Somehow Gorka finding time to prank everyone - thank god there’s room to laugh.

Strictly Come Dancing co-stars, dance pro Nikita Kuzmin and his celeb partner Ellie Simmonds.The Spanish dancer, 32, reshared a sweet snap of the partnership ahead of the second week of the show.In view of his 703,000 followers, Gorka voiced his support for Nikita and Ellia.The Strictly pro reposted a picture of the duo which paralympian Ellie has shared to her stories.In the pic, Nikita affectionately had his arm around Elie's shoulder as she beamed while hugging him around his waist.The swimming champion also revealed that the Spaniard was the one who took a snap of the sweet moment.Ellie wrote: "@gorka_marquez bringing out his incredible camera...

"This year is more of a celebration of queerness and the LGBTQI+ community," he added.John went on: "Please do not use my partnership with Johannes to undermine that of Richie and Giovanni's."In the caption for the post he penned: "Putting this here as requested."I don’t usually speak up against trolls or vitriol disguised as journalism, but I think it’s time to start. "Hateful words, like those written by Allison Pearson, could be read and taken for gospel by someone, who then turns on a person from a minority group."Worse still, someone from a minority group could read those poisonous words and turn on themselves."Let’s start putting these fires out with a calm sense of kindness and truth."And if Allison argues that it is indeed solely about the dancing, then I’d have to ask why single out the minority groups? "Review them all, if the dancing is what’s upsetting you."Rose, in response, took to her Instagram stories and shared a screenshot of John's video and wrote: "Please have a look at John's story… "Thank you for speaking up about this @john_whaite."She directed her comments at those who think TV is "too woke".The dancer hit out at these people as being "too privileged" to notice the benefits of the progressive show. Rose added the new direction of the show was a "huge deal" for minority groups. She also urged the critic not to compare her to Ellie, as they have "different" life experiences that are "not comparable".Paralympic swimmer Ellie has achondroplasia, the most common cause of dwarfism and has previously said on ITV's This Morning that "disability representation" on Strictly is "so important".

really pleased with last week’s dance, though obviously there’s room for improvement, and I was really grateful the judges gave me positive feedback and things I can work on. Ultimately I was happy that Gorka Márquez, my professional partner, was happy. He’s put in so many hours and, above being a great teacher, he’s been a really great pal, so I will be forever thankful to him and his family.