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Entertainment
Simon Duke

Helen Skelton's Strictly 'snub' to Gorka Marquez in Blackpool picked up by microphones

Helen Skelton was overheard firing a cheeky 'snub' in the direction of her Strictly pro partner Gorka Marquez as they began their performance in Blackpool on Saturday night.

Odds on former Blue Peter star Helen and Gorka winning Strictly this year are shortening all the time and the couple did their chances of Glitterball glory no harm at the weekend as they dazzled on the dancefloor in the iconic Tower Ballroom. Helen and Gorka got a tremendous 39 out of 40 for their Quickstep to Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse classic Valerie, with notoriously hard to please judge Craig Revel-Horwood booed for not doing what all his colleague did and awarding them a 10, as Shirley Ballas challenged Craig on his criticism.

Their score of 39 out of 40 was enough to put Helen and Gorka second on the leaderboard and, once again, that score combined with viewer votes was enough to see them through to another week.

Helen and Gorka are now second favourites to win Strictly, having never been in the dance-off and, just like all their ballroom rivals featured in a video of 'overheard' moments shared by the show's official account on Twitter on Tuesday. The 'secret' mic moments give fans a chance to hear comments made between the remaining couples that they don't get to witness on the live show.

READ MORE: Dianne Buswell breaks Strictly silence as as fans demand 'justice'

And one the moments featured in the latest reel of highlights is Helen's 'snub' to Gorka as she got into character and the music to their routine kicked in on Saturday. As she stood with female backing dancers, Helen shot a look at her pro partner and quipped: "He wishes!" before getting on with the performance.

After Helen and Girka made it through Blackpool Week, with Tyler West the latest star to be sent packing, she took to Instagram to thank the dancers who performed with her and Gorka on Saturday and also took time to thank fans, writing: "Thank you for being on this crazy adventure with us! Thank you for getting us to Blackpool and beyond.

At the time of writing, the Strictly songs and dances for this coming Saturday had yet to be confirmed, which could well be due to the fact that Kym Marsh has been forced to pull out of rehearsals and the next live show due to testing positive for Covid.

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