'he makes me laugh'
Gemma Atkinson finally opens up about Gorka Marquez and says she fell for ‘funny’ Strictly dancer over coffee dates
GEMMA Atkinson has opened up about her romance with Gorka Marquez – revealing when and how they fell for each other.
The Strictly star was grilled by her Key 103 breakfast show co-hosts Mike Toolan and Matt Haslam as she returned to the show following her loved-up break with the hunky professional dancer.
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Starting with easy questions, the pair first jokingly asked how they met – and she revealed they bonded over coffees together.
She said: "Obviously we worked together, I’ve known him for six months now. During the show we only saw each other at weekends everyone was saying 'oh they're together' but we genuinely weren’t.
“We just went for coffee and stuff on Sundays, not every Sunday, you can’t get to know someone just by seeing them at weekends.
"It was only when the tour started that we saw each other all the time and we thought 'oh ok this could work', and it did, and it does so far!"
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Matt then cheeky asked the 32-year-old what first attracted her to "the bendy 27-year-old dancer".
Ignoring their implication, she replied: “He’s very funny, I like the fact that he’s funny he makes me laugh and because he’s in London and I’m in Manchester I think that’s a good thing because you both have to make an effort to see each other.
“When you’re working with someone it's very convenient and easy, I'm very aware of that, and when you’re separated that’s when you have to make the effort and it's sweet that’s nice.”
Their cheeky questions didn’t end there though, and they asked:"Why did you decide to switch away from footballers?".
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She responded: “Listen I don't care what anyone does for a profession. You could be a footballer, a bin man, a radio host, a newsreader as long as they make me happy and as long as they’re honest with me that's all I ask for."
But Gemma was very adamant that they didn’t get together while she was competing against him and his celebrity partner Alexandra Burke on the show.
“Someone messaged me and said ‘I can’t believe you’ve lied to us you were together all this time’ but we genuinely weren't, I would never get with someone that quickly,” she said.
"The reason it's nice is that we have known each other for six months now before it came to anything.
"Until we could spend time together outside of Strictly after Christmas none of us really knew.”
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Strictly's Gorka Marquez and Gemma Atkinson jet off on holiday together for the first time
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