Helen Skelton shares Strictly-themed prank her son played at school

"They all believed him."

By George Lewis

4 Dec 2022

helen skelton, gorka marquez, strictly come dancing 2022

BBC

Helen Skelton has revealed that her son played a Strictly Come Dancing-themed prank on teachers at school last week.

The television presenter, who is partnered with professional dancer Gorka Márquez on the current series, revealed to co-host Claudia Winkleman on Saturday's results show that her 5-year-old son Louis has been telling people that he had been dropped off at school for the day by two Strictly judges.

"He [Louis] got dropped off in a taxi once and they asked, 'Who's in there?'" Helen told Claudia.

"He maintained the lie all day that Craig [Revel Horwood] and Shirley [Ballas] had dropped him off."

strictly judges hold their 10 scoring paddles during blackpool special

Guy LevyBBC

"They all believed him. You don't like to question a 5-year-old, do you? So he stuck with it and we went with it," she continued, to the amusement of Claudia, Gorka and co-stars Will Mellor and Nancy Xu.

Helen recalled the story after it was announced that she and Gorka had made it through to next week's semi-final, which will see each couple perform an additional dance as they seek to reach the showpiece final on December 17.

She will be competing against Will Mellor, Hamza Yassin, Fleur East and Molly Rainford, who prevailed over Kym Marsh in the dance-off.

BBC

Waterloo Road actress Kym, who made her return to the dancefloor following a week off due to illness, paid tribute to partner Graziano Di Prima in a heartfelt Instagram post following her elimination.

"My husband, my son, my daughter, their partners, my parents, my siblings, I could not have got through this without them, I love you my beautiful family!" she wrote.

"Graziano you are now an honorary Marsh!!" former Coronation Street star Kym added. "We love you. Thank you for the fun, the laughter and thank you for showing me that I am stronger than I think! Love you!!"

Graziano followed suit with an emotional post, describing Kym as a "warrior" and saying he had found a "friend for life".

For one week only, Strictly Come Dancing airs on Sunday (December 11) at 7.15pm on BBC One, with a results show on Monday (December 12). Spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows also stream on BBC iPlayer.

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