Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez have revealed it was a joint decision for the dancer to quit Strictly Come Dancing after ten years.
Gorka, 35, announced last month that he would not be returning to the BBC TV show, amid the pro dance bloodbath, which saw other fan-favourite dancers axed.
Speaking from the Strictly: The Professionals tour for the couple’s podcast Lost In Translation, Gorka revealed how he had come to his decision.
After Gemma, 41, admitted that the couple, who met on the 2017 series of Strictly, had known the outcome of the ‘bittersweet’ decision ‘for a long time’, she was keen to point out:
‘It wasn’t my decision which I’d like to point out for everybody who messaged me on Instagram saying “you’ve finally got what you want now”.
‘Absolutely not, it was a nice break from you when you were doing it,’ she added.
Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez have revealed it was a joint decision for the dancer to quit Strictly Come Dancing after ten years
Gorka, 35, announced last month that he would not be returning to the BBC TV show, amid the pro dance bloodbath, which saw other fan-favourite dancers axed
The dancer previously took a short break from the show after signing up for a three-week stint as a judge on its Spanish version, Bailando Con Las Estrellas, in 2025.
A schedule clash with Strictly Come Dancing resulted in Gorka appearing as part of the ensemble for the first seven weeks before travelling to Spain for a month, returning to the BBC show for its eleventh week.
Gorka and Gemma explained that juggling his work in Spain with Strictly became too much, and after conversations with their daughter Mia, six, they decided he needed to prioritise his family.
‘When we were talking about it we did include Mia,’ Gemma told listeners. ‘We said to Mia “what would you rather Papa do? Would you rather he work in Spain at weekends or work in England during Strictly?”‘
‘She said “well I do love watching him dance, but I love having him home more”. And we were like “right, signed, sealed, delivered.”‘
‘She said to my mum “me, mummy and papa have decided, this year he’s not going to be dancing on Strictly”‘.
The couple’s youngest child, son Thiago, two, has also ‘struggled with you being away on tour more than we thought,’ Gemma added.
Gorka and Gemma explainted that juggling work in Spain with Strictly became too much, and after conversations with their daughter Mia, six, they decided he needed to prioritise his family
‘When Mia was Thiago’s age, it wasn’t until she was like three, four that she started getting really upset. I don’t know if it’s because lads are different, or because he’s a bit more sensitive but he’s been crying at nursery for you.’
Gorka called his exit ‘bittersweet’ but gushed ‘I’ve learned loads, met lots of people learned not just about dancing but about life, I made friends, I met you, we have a family.
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‘I’m very grateful but it’s a chapter that is closed and time to move on to a new chapter.’
On Wednesday the BBC finally confirmed the professional dancers that will be returning for the new series, after a string of stars were axed in a brutal cast cull.
In recent months Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, 43, Michelle Tsiakkas, 30, Luba Mushtuk, 36, and Gorka Marquez, 35, have all been given the boot.
But the dancers that will be back on the dancefloor later this year have now been announced, and they include Dianne Buswell, who competed on the show last year while pregnant with her first child, and gave birth to son Bowden in March.
Amy Dowden will also be back on the show, after her stint on last year’s run came to an early end, when she and Thomas Skinner were the first pair to be eliminated.
Also set to return are: Julian Caillon, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Jowita Przystał, Johannes Radebe, Aljaž Škorjanec, Alexis Warr, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Lauren Oakley and Vito Coppola.
Bosses also revealed that there will be brand new professional dancers joining the line-up in 2026, while judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Head Judge Shirley Ballas are also set to return.
