Gorka Marquez: ‘I want to show the other side of Strictly’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro

Gorka Marquez has been honest about the realities of being a dancer on Strictly (Picture: W and UKTV Play/Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind the Lens)

‘Sometimes I don’t feel like I want to dance,’ Gorka Marquez – one of the nation’s favourite professional dancers on Strictly Come Dancing – admits.

The 34-year-old is talking to Metro about a viral Instagram post he published in September. He shared a selfie of himself crying and said he felt ‘guilty’ for leaving his partner Gemma Atkinson and their children Mia, five, and Thiago, one, while he worked away from home.

The response was massive. Gorka was praised for being open, honest and vulnerable – particularly as man in a society where toxic masculinity still pervades. He says he posted it to make others feel ‘less alone.’

Gorka explains: ‘People always show us with a smile, entetaining, with glitter, getting hair and make up done, doing a theatre tour or doing an arena tour and believe everything is just “Wow.” But there is a lot of sacrifice. I left home when I was 16 to become a dancer.

‘Sometimes I don’t feel like I want to dance, like how people don’t want to go into the office. Sometimes, your body is broke from nine hours a day rehearsing and it’s cold and your joints are aching but you have to do it.

‘I just want to show that we all go through that and to help people going through the same thing to make them feel less alone.’

Gorka posted a selfie with tears running down his face as he explained the difficulties of his job (Picture: Instagram)

He said he felt ‘guilty’ leaving his partner Gemma and his two children for work (Picture: UKTV/Mark Forrer)

‘I just did it to show that we’re still like humans. I don’t consider myself famous. I just consider myself as dancer who is lucky enough to perform on television.’

Karen Hauer, 42, Gorka’s fellow Strictly pro and tour buddy – the pair will be travelling up and down the UK from February for their Speakeasy tour – alsoagrees that life as a dancer can be tough.

‘It’s a great job to have and it bring a lot of joy but it’s hard it’s hard,’ she says. ‘There’s a lot that goes into behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t see. They just see the final product but a lot of hard work goes into it.’

Karen would know more than most as she is officially Strictly’s longest serving professional after joining the BBC show in 2012. She says she ‘pinches herself’ over the ‘unbelievable’ achievement. More than 10 years later, everyone will be relieved she has no plans to leave.

Karen is Strictly’s longest serving professional dancer (Picture: Ray Burmiston/BBC/PA Wire)

Fortunately for Strictly fans she said she had no plans to leave (Picture: Instagram)

She says: ‘I love the show. I think it’s fantastic. There is always a time to to bow out but I feel really strong – mentally and physically – I’m still very young. There are always plans, but for now just like living in the moment. Every year feels like a restart.’

Strictly has been on our screens since 2004 but aside from line-up changes among the professionals and judges, has largely been untouched over the past 20 years.

Gorka, though, does have one suggestion to shake-up the format. He explains the Spanish version of Strictly has an incredibly long episodes and even when stars are eliminated they remain the same length. To pad out later episodes, guest celebitries are invited on as a ‘time filler’ where they perform a routine for pure entertainment purposes and are not scored.

But rather than celebrity guests, Gorka would like to see the BBC introduce this segment for members of the public who are huge Strictly fans to give them a once in life time opportunity to dance on the show. I think it would be a nice touch to breathe life in a show that has been waning and hit by scandals of late.

But aside from Strictly, the show Gork would most like to compete on is the Spanish version of Survivor which, how he explains it, is not for the faint-hearted. Contestants are dropped on an island in Honduras where they must fend for themselves for three months.

The camp is also divided into two: with one having much preferable conditions while the other roughs it even more than normal on a desert island. ‘You see transformations because of the conditions they live in,’ Gorka enthuses.

He also says the first rounds of eliminations are a trick. ‘They think they’re getting sent back home but actually you go and live by yourself on a little platform in the middle of some water for a week. It’s like three sqaure metres,’ Gorka explains.

Um, so why do you want to do it? ‘I like a challenge,’ he replies as somewhat of an understatement.

Gorka and Karen are heading out on a UK tour (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Desert islands are a way off though, unfortunately for Gorka, as he is embarking on a tour from February to April with Karen. The two of them, Karen explains, are like ‘brother and sisters.’

‘I’m the serious sister,’ she laughs. ‘There are times where we change roles where I get funny and he’s the serious one, but most of the time I have to keep things in control.

‘We’re best friends, we’ve known each other for such a long time now and we’ve done plenty of tours together.’

But depsite years of touring behind them, that doesn’t mean Karen has learnt how to dodge his pranks. ‘He’ll hide my shoes before I have to go on or if you’re about to go on stage he’s grab you, hug you and hold you so you’re late,’ she reveals with a smile.

Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez Speakeasy Tour starts February 2025 and runs through to April in theatres across the UK. Tickets and more information here.

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