Strictly Come Dancing's Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Márquez announce second baby

"Impossible to hide my belly any longer."

By Joe Anderton

21 Jan 2023

Shutterstock

Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Márquez have announced that they are expecting their second child together.

The couple, who met on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, welcomed a baby girl named Mia in 2019.

Now they have revealed that they've got another baby on the way, both sharing a series of black and white photos: the first of Gemma cradling her bump, with Gorka and Mia joining in looking delighted for the other pictures.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gemma Atkinson (@glouiseatkinson)

Gemma wrote: "Impossible to hide my belly any longer. I've officially 'popped'. Our baby boy will be joining our family later this year.

"We feel so incredibly blessed and grateful to be on this journey again. Mia is absolutely thrilled! Although we may need to do some negotiating on names, as so far she's adamant he's going to be called Barbie."

Last year, the couple had to respond to reports that they had delayed their wedding, stating that they hadn't even booked a date at the time.

"Gorka is literally on tour all of this year," Gemma said in the interview that sparked the rumours. "We've only got four days off together. He's got the two Strictly tours back-to-back, and then he'll be going on Strictly in the autumn. We don't even have a minute to sit down and begin making plans!"

Mike Marsland/WireImageGetty Images

Gemma also reprised her role as Lisa Hunter for two episodes of Hollyoaks last year, but poured cold water over the idea of her returning to Emmerdale as Carly Hope.

"Emmerdale has mentioned me going back, but with soaps the thing that people don't realise is that the cast and crew do quite gruelling hours... Maybe when Mia is a bit older and in school I might consider it, but at the minute it's not practical, especially with Gorka doing a lot of touring and stuff."

Strictly Come Dancing will return later this year on BBC One, while spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two will air on weeknights later this year on BBC Two. Both shows also stream on BBC iPlayer.

Interested in talking about Strictly Come Dancing? Visit our dedicated sub-forum.