Why Gorka Marquez didn't want Gemma Atkinson as Strictly partner

Strictly Come Dancing pro Gorka Marquez has admitted he never wanted to be partnered with fiancée Gemma Atkinson on the show.

The pair crossed paths during the 15th season of the BBC dancing competition while they were partnered with other people – singer Alexandra Burke for Gorka and pro Aljaž Škorjanec for Gemma.

While love blossomed for the now-engaged couple, Gorka has admitted on Scala Radio with Angellica Bell why he didn't actually want to dance with her on Strictly back in the day.

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"I didn't want to dance with Gemma. She was very tall for me," he explained. "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 want to dance with that person over there they are very friendly, very happy, very helpful, if they don’t want to dance with someone, some people don’t even talk to them.”

His fellow Strictly pro Karen Hauer disagreed: "We try to be courteous and amicable to everyone whether you want to dance with them or not. If they can’t dance, they might turn out to be the loveliest person.”

Even though the couple didn't hit it off on the dancefloor, they entered a relationship shortly after that series and are now planning a life together.

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The only trouble has been nailing down a wedding date, with Gemma admitting recently in an Instagram Q&A: "We've done zero planning with all the Covid stuff. We've twice almost gone into the registry office and just done it but I don't think our families would be very happy. They want a good party!"

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One.