Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez met on Strictly in 2017. Eight years on and the pair, who are engaged and have two children – and a new podcast – open up about the ‘beautiful chaos’ of it all…
After just a short time in their company, it’s clear they’re very different as people, but work perfectly together. Radio DJ Gemma Atkinson, 40, and pro dancer Gorka Márquez, 35, are an entertaining double act, with Gemma’s straight-talking, northern humour and Gorka’s quiet, laidback Spanish charm. The couple, who got engaged in 2021, are based in Manchester, but Gorka often travels for work — this year he’s regularly in Spain, as a judge on the Spanish version of Strictly .
The pair met when Gemma took part in Strictly in 2017. Their relationship was a slow burn, but they fell for each other and are now parents to two children, Mia, six, who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy, and two-year-old Thiago. Elements of navigating their daily lives often get lost in translation (hence the name of their new podcast, Lost In Translation), which makes for some hilarious moments. Here, they open up exclusively to OK! about working together, their little ones following in their footsteps and the habits that annoy each other…
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Hi, Gemma and Gorka! Are you glued to Strictly this year?
Gemma: Every Saturday. It’s the proper countdown to Christmas, for us. It’s also a good excuse not have to go out on a Saturday night!
Strictly got you two together, didn’t it?
Gorka: Oh, she really made me work for it, though!
Gemma: Nothing good comes easy, as my mum would say. It’s always nice to remember how it all started. Since my year on Strictly, I’ve been to watch the live shows twice, and as soon as I walk into Elstree I get such a warm feeling…
Gorka: Where it began, me and you.
Gemma: It’s lovely. Seeing Aljaž [Škorjanec] and Janette [Manrara] with little Lyra-Rose, Neil Jones has Havana, and Dianne [Buswell] is going to have a little one…
Gorka: It’s crazy, when I first started on Strictly , Aljaž and Janette were about to get married, Neil joined with me. Dianne, who I also worked with on cruise ships, is about to have a family… Everyone’s grown up. We used to go out after a show, now we’ve got to get home, so the next day we can have breakfast with our babies.
Gemma, you almost didn’t do Strictly – your life could look very different now…
Gemma: Yes! At first, I said no. I was doing radio and it was the first job where I could commute in less than 40 minutes. I was getting to live life how I wanted. About two weeks later, my agent called me and was like, ‘Hun, this Strictly thing, can you just think about it?’ I was determined it was a no. I was going to Jason Vale’s juice retreat and she said do a week there and think about it. So I did.
What changed your mind?
When I got to my room at the retreat, Oprah’s autobiography was on the side table. I picked it up and it fell open to a page with just one big quote, “If you have a chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you choose to dance.” I thought, maybe I’m meant to do this. So I messaged my agent and said yes, I’ll do it. Just don’t ask me again or I’ll change my mind!
Wow, a real sliding doors moment then…
Gemma: Gorks and I were in the same place at the same time a year earlier, too, but we didn’t know it. We were in the Bahamas. I was on holiday and there’s a bar, Señor Frog’s, that looks out on to the sea. There’s a video of me and my friend dancing there, the camera pans around and there’s a cruise ship close to shore.
Gorka: I was working on that ship, isn’t that incredible?
Can you tell us about your new podcast?
Gemma: From our reality TV show, we had lovely feedback about how normal, mundane tasks and chaotic school runs could turn into something fun and relatable. So Lost In Translation is like an audio version of that. Each week, we each message our producer individually about what’s annoyed us about each other and then have a debate about it.
You also solve a listener’s dilemma each week…
Gemma: We do. The first was a listener called Sophie. She’d just moved in with her fella and was giving herself tummy pains as she was scared of doing a poo in the flat! We also have silly games and explore the differences between Spanish and English.
How much chaos does that cultural mix bring?
Gorka: It happens all the time. I used to say, “I’m wet p****d through,” and Gemma would laugh and correct me, “No, Gork, it’s I’m p****d wet through.”
Gemma: It’s little things. For me, growing up, it was cheese pie or chippy tea with gravy every Friday. Vinegar on chips. Gorka is absolutely repulsed by this.
Gorka: How can you eat a puff pastry pie with cheese?!
Gemma: Thiago loves them, too. They’re his favourite.
Gorka: Gemma doesn’t eat red meat, but at Christmas I bring a big Spanish leg of ham home. It’s amazing, but Gemma’s going, “Get that thing out of the house!”
Are the kids learning Spanish?
Gemma: Gorka does Spanish reading with Mia. His parents don’t speak English, so when we FaceTime, his dad speaks Spanish and I’m there going, “Hola!”, trying my hardest. It’s different for children. Last time we went to Spain, Gorka’s mum looked after the kids, so we could have a day in Madrid. I was worried, but we came back four hours later and they were dancing, laughing…
Gorka: Language doesn’t matter — they were having the time of their lives.
What annoys you about each other?
Gorka: I’m a perfectionist, everything has to be in its place, and Gemma’s messy.
Gemma: I’ve been folding socks wrong my whole life. I just fold them, done. Gorka likes them next to each other, the bottom to the top, tucked in completely.
Do Mia and Thiago show signs of wanting to dance?
Gemma: They’ve got musicality. Mia’s obsessed with dancing. Thiago’s got a good ear, he sings in tune already. He loves The Greatest Showman and bangs the drum at exactly the right times.
Gorka: This morning we were playing music and they were dancing around the kitchen with me, it was so cute. I love those moments.
Lost In Translation is available on the Rayo app, Apple,Amazon Music, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
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