Gorka Marquez has shared why fans won't see him on the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour this year as he teased a potential TV appearance away from the dance show's famous ballroom.
As fans will know, Gorka competed in the 2024 run of the BBC One dance contest with Morning Live star Dr Punam Krishan. Punam was based in Glasgow and Gorka temporarily moved to Scotland while they competed in Strictly's 2024 series, while also travelling to London each weekend for live programmes each week.
After making history with the first Bollywood routine ever since in the Strictly ballroom, Gorka and Punam were seen exiting from the competition during the Halloween special weekend,
They later returned for the final of Strictly's 20th-anniversary series, which saw Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell crowned the series champions, as the class of 2024 reunited for one last joyous performance to round of the latest run of dancing action.
A number of Gorka's co-stars have since reunited for the Strictly Live tour which will visit audiences up and down the country but he is continuing his run of not being part of the professional dancer line-up.
Sharing why, the 34-year-old has told Radio Times: “Strictly is quite intense and I have to balance work with time with Gemma [Atkinson] and the children. They are five and one, and this time will never come back."
Meanwhile, Gorka was also asked what it was like to film the Strictly-themed MasterChef special which was pulled from the schedules over Christmas following an investigation into show co-host Gregg Wallace
A BBC spokesperson said in early December: "As we have said, MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the chefs taking part and the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals is continuing as planned. The celebrity Christmas specials are obviously a different type of show and in the current circumstances we have decided not to broadcast them."
Gorka has now spoken about the episode's axing, telling the publication: "I can tell you it was fun to film. Maybe now I have to do the main MasterChef show so I can follow in Vito’s steps!"
It comes after Strictly co-star Vito Coppola won the celebrity edition of MasterChef in 2024. Gorka dded: "I wasn’t surprised he won because on every Strictly tour he was always cooking and he loves food. That's why he was so good."
