Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez’s performances on this year’s Strictly have been so impressive, it seems like nothing will be able to stop them winning the series.
But hang on a minute – a report in today’s Sun suggests that all is not well between the two dance partners, with Alexandra said to be angry about the amount of time the Spanish dancer has been spending with rival competitor Gemma Atkinson.
The rumour mill has gone into overdrive since the series started, with many people taking Gorka and Gemma’s closeness to mean that they fancy the pants off each other.
And according to the newspaper, X Factor winner Alexandra is concerned that it’s distracting Gorka, and has even been heard saying that she hopes Gemma and her partner Aljaz Skorjanec will be voted off the show soon.
“Gorka is a professional and he’s not giving up any of his rehearsal time with Alex to see Gemma,” a source was quoted as saying.
“Their romance doesn’t seem to distract him at all. But it is a sore point for Alex, who wishes she — and their dancing — was his sole focus. It really irritates her to see him flirting with Gemma.
“Alex is, at heart, a nice girl but [she] has an unshakeable competitive streak.”
This isn’t the first time there’s been talk of unrest between Alexandra and Gorka over the Gemma Atkinson situation.
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Earlier this month, Alex, 29, appeared on Lorraine to scotch a report in The Sun that claimed Gorka and the Emmerdale actress were an item.
Responding to the host’s suggestion that she was “fuming and raging”, she laughed: “Apparently, I am! I don’t know where he has time to have anything going on, to be fair.
“You literally can’t believe those kind of things. It’s all fun, and it’s a lot of love with every contestant on the show, and every pro too.
“My concentration is making sure me and Gorka are fully in tune with each other. We’re having so much fun at the moment, we won’t let anything get in the way.”
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Whether her stance has changed since then, or the latest reports are false, remains to be seen.
But Gemma certainly didn’t rule out the potential for romance when she signed up for the BBC show.
The actress, 32, said she had no worries about the notorious Strictly ‘curse’ – which has seen a number of high-profile marriages break-up soon after one of the partners appeared on the show.
“I’ve been single for ages, so there wouldn’t be any curse for me,” she commented.