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Strictly star struggling to fake it with partner

And there was a very good reason!

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We all know of the infamous Strictly Come Dancing curse which has been blamed for making celebrity contestants fall in love with their pro partners.

But in a twist, one of this year’s contestants is having the OPPOSITE problem!

Former X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, 29, has admitted she struggled to fake her feelings with pro partner Gorka Marquez while performing over the weekend.

We know, we know: many of us are no doubt wondering how anybody could struggle to display steamy chemistry with hunky Gorka, right?

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The problem is, Alexandra’s a happily taken lady so having to pretend to be in love with Gorka for their romantic routine was all just a bit odd.

Well, we can totally get that.

They performed ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’ from My Fair Lady for their Movies Week performance.

Alexandra explained to Radio Times: “Every time we ran it in rehearsal I kept getting quite giggly and embarrassed by being so close to him and pretending to be in love.”

The answer? Laughing through it!

“We got to a point where we had to stop, and he went red-faced,” explained Alex, “but then I started tickling him and we were laughing so hard we were crying!”

And, hey, it worked! The pair scored 33 out of a possible 40 points for their American Smooth, cementing their position as a front-runner to win the Glitterball Trophy.

Alexandra is all loved up with boyfriend Josh Ginnelly – and has insisted the Strictly curse won’t affect them as he’s used to seeing her performing with other men.

She also told Radio Times: “Gorka is a brilliant teacher and probably one of the only people I’ve met with more energy than me. We trained 10 hours a day for the paso and doing him proud meant everything to me.

“It’s a good thing that my boyfriend is used to seeing me on stage with other men – when I first met him I was kissing two guys a night in ‘Sister Act’ – because I hope Gorka and I get the chance to dance many, many more weeks.”

Gorka, meanwhile, is currently single but has been linked to another Strictly star, Gemma Atkinson.

The handsome Spanish dancer has found himself the centre of rumours he’s been secretly romancing ex soap star Gemma off-camera.

While there’s no doubt Gorka and Gem would make one seriously good-looking couple, sadly this is a rumour we’ll have to file under ‘not true’ for now.

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Both of them have spoken out to deny any romance, with Gemma insisting she’s happy to be single, and Gorka saying although Gem’s a “beautiful girl” they’re just mates.

Hmm… there’s still several weeks of Strictly left.

Who knows what could happen?!


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor