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Strictly’s Gemma Atkinson speaks out on Simon Rimmer ‘affair’ rumours 

She's clearing up the speculation once and for all

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During last year’s Strictly Come Dancing it was reported that two contestants had enjoyed a steamy secret hook up.

The ‘did they have a one-night stand?’ question flew around Twitter and fans were convinced it was good pals single Gemma Atkinson and happily married Simon Rimmer.

At the time the pair laughed off the crazy speculation and now Gemma has insisted there is absolutely no truth in the rumours, of course!

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“You’ve just got to take it with a pinch of salt,” she told the Daily Star. “With anything that goes on, you can’t really look at it in any specific way. We’re all used to it now.”

“Me and Simon are great friends. I’m friends with his wife as well, which made the whole thing funny,” she added.

And Simon, who is happily married to his wife Ali, finds it all so hilarious too!

Gemma was a guest on Simon’s show, Sunday Brunch, earlier this month and they were confronted about the rumours by Simon’s co-host Tim Lovejoy.

Tim couldn’t resist making a cheeky remark about the speculation as he said: “I spat my coffee out when I read about you and Rimmer snogging. Who would have thought it?”

Former Emmerdale star Gemma laughed: “I know. What can I say? We spend a lot of time together!”

Simon then said: “What made me laugh is that a picture of us on Instagram, with loads of us in it, they said it was just you, me and Aljaz (Skorjanec). Just the three of us. There were 24 of us!”

Back in December, when the rumours began, the pair laughed off the speculation with Simon tweeting: “Gemma is like a daughter to me and has become a friend of all my family. I think it’s funny.”

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Gem added: “Howling,” along with some ‘crying with laughter’ emojis.

During the series, romance rumours seemed to surround Gemma after many claimed she was dating Alexandra Burke’s professional partner Gorka Marquez.

The pair denied there was anything romantic going on between them and insisted their relationship is purely platonic but now they’re spending more time together on the Strictly tour, who knows what could happen?!


Rebecca Carter
Associate Editor (News)

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