Helen Skelton’s dance partner spoke out on Strictly Come Dancing to plead with her to believe in herself.
Following their paso doble – which scored a credible 29 from judges – Helen was talking to Claudia Winkleman on the live show.
Gorka Marquez asked if he could say something and said to her: “Can I just say something? I know you’ve been having a difficult time and you’ve been…you may feel like you’re not beautiful or good enough or anything, you don’t believe in yourself but I believe in you, everyone believes in you, your family believes in you, you need to believe in you.
“You are an amazing woman, very inspirational, amazing mum and an incredible dancer, so believe in you please.”
Helen has just been saying she had hit a turning point last Saturday: “I was terrified of the dancefloor, but you don’t know how long you’re going to last, so you need to lean into it.”
Her parents Richard and Janet were in the audience and Helen thanked them publicly – although she added they didn’t like public thanks – and added “grandparents keep this country on its feet and my parents definitely keep me on my feet.”
Judges praised their paso doble, with Craig saying they did a fantastic job, but said it was too polite, Shirley said it was great but also urged Helen to show some self-belief and Anton said it was quality.
However, they only scored 29, which puts them fourth from bottom. Top was Hamza and Jowita with 39.
