Gemma and Gorka’s steamy holiday love-in

The dancing duo do the horizontal tango in the Canaries

In news that surprised absolutely no one, Strictly Come Dancing’s Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Márquez FINALLY admitted they were a couple earlier this month, posting a suitably soppy photo of them together on Valentine’s Day. And, as our exclusive pics show, they’ve since wasted no time in indulging in some serious PDAS – as well as doing some questionable things with sun cream (see pic, right)– while on a romantic getaway to the Canary Islands. Ignoring the 7,000 other people on the beach, Gemka looked – dare we say it – totally loved-up.

The 32-year-old actress and radio presenter first met professional dancer Gorka, 27, last summer at the very beginning of their Strictly run. And, even though she’s still insisting that nothing happened between them until the series ended and they embarked on the tour, we remain unconvinced, given that the fitness fanatics spent months working out in the gym together during the show’s run – doing, what we can only imagine, were partnerassisted forward lunges.

Still, we’re willing to overlook her chronological inaccuracies and instead focus on the fact that she’s suitably besotted with her Spanish dancer beau. Speaking on her Key 103 radio show last week, Gemma said, “He’s very lovely and very funny. I like the fact that he makes me laugh.” Indeed, the Spanish dancer’s wicked sense of humour has been regularly catalogued on both their social media, where he can be seen insistently winding up his lady love. In one video, Gorka interrupts a soppy moment between them by picking her nose and, as our pictures show, on another occasion he applies sun cream to her face in a rather, er, creative manner. Who says romance is dead?

That being said, we’re not surprised that Gorka’s playful lad jokes have worked their charm on Gem – a woman who, by her own admission, is a serious tomboy. The star, who previously dated footballers Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo, says she feels most at home in the gym without a scrap of make-up on, so is clearly enjoying her and her new beau’s shared love of fitness. Indeed, our pictures show that – when it comes to health and fitness – they’re resolutely on the same page, tucking into some tasty looking salad together beachside… because abs don’t come from Sangria.

And while Gorka is clearly mischievous, you’ll be pleased to know he has a softer side too: Gemma revealed that, on Valentine’s Day, “He left a massive bouquet of roses for me in the hotel room.”

Hold up, they weren’t even the fake, water-squirter kind? That’s amore.