Strictly Helen: I almost quit before first dance
Radio 5 star hit by stage fright
STRICTLY’S Helen Skelton was so gripped by stage fright she tried to flee through a fire escape before her debut live performance.
The Radio 5 Live presenter told how she wept and had to be coaxed back by partner Gorka Marquez, 32. Helen also revealed she is out of her comfort zone due to the tactile nature of dancers and make-up artists. Despite insisting she is “really enjoying” the Strictly experience, the 39-year-old said of Saturday’s debut on the BBC show: “I had a little cry. I’m normally cool, calm and collected. “I got on the dance floor and they said, ‘When the audience come in...’ and I went, ‘Oh crikey, yeah, there’s people. I was like, ‘There’s a fire door, there, I can get out of it,’ and I did. And Gorka found me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Just having a minute.’ I literally ran. It was like when I did Celeb SAS, I tried to escape that.” Helen said of the Strictly set: “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but it’s very weird. Personal space? You wave goodbye to that. Boundaries are non-existent. You walk in and they go, ‘Do you want a fake tan?’ Before you know it you’re naked with a load of people spraying you.” Helen and Gorka performed an American Smooth to You Send Me by Aretha Franklin, and were placed 6th on the leaderboard with a respectable score of 26. Bookies’ favourite Will Mellor and partner Nancy Xu topped the board. Paralympian Ellie Simmonds, 27, was pictured grinning on the way back to her hotel after her cha cha with Nikita Kuzmin. Comedian Jayde Adams was also spotted. She had danced a rumba with Karen Hauer.