'Left too soon!' Gorka Marquez details sadness over bidding farewell to Strictly co-star

express.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing's Gorka Marquez has opened up about bidding farewell to his co-star Simon Rimmer, who took part in the fifteenth series of the popular BBC programme in 2017.The fiancé of model Gemma Atkinson, 31, revealed that he was "sad" to see the Sunday Brunch host leave the show, as the chef had helped to bring him and his now-bride-to-be together.Simon appeared on the dance show in 2017 and was partnered with professional dancer Karen Hauer.He became the fifth celebrity to be voted off the show after judges opted to save singer Mollie King and AJ Pritchard.Addressing the moment the Saturday Brunch presenter left the programme on Halloween week, Gorka admitted that he was sad to see him go.He said: "I love Simon, for me he left too soon to be honest."Not only was the dance star teary over seeing his close friend leave, but Gorka revealed that it was the celebrity chef who had bought him and Gemma together.He went on: "When he left I was quite sad because I really like him, you know what the first time that me and Gemma went for a coffee was with him."Gemma was also taking part in the show that year and was partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec.The duo made it to the finals but lost out on the coveted Glitterball trophy to Joe McFadden and Katya Jones.Also in the interview, the Spanish dance pro admitted that he had no desire to be partnered with Gemma in the dance competition due to one specific reason.Gorka admitted: "I didn’t want to dance with Gemma."She was very tall for me."He went on to explain how vital a good pairing can be for forming a relationship between the celebrity and pro.Gorka said: "You see some people when they know who they want to dance with or who they don’t want to dance with, if they say they.