Gemma Atkinson has candidly confessed that partner Gorka Marquez is “never here” during the Strictly Come Dancing season. The couple, who are parents to five-year-old daughter Mia and 17-month-old son Thiago, navigate a very hectic schedule with Gorka’s commitments to the long-running BBC show.

Gemma, who has been with the 34-year-old Spanish dancer for eight years, discussed how hectic Gorka’s life is for almost half of the year during her appearance on the Parenting Hell podcast. She admitted: “He’s never here. It’s Strictly from July to December. If they get a partner, they’re based where their partner is in the week. Obviously London at the weekend.”

Elsewhere on the Parenting Hell podcast, the 40-year-old radio host and former soap star made a very surprising revelation about what she’s really thinking amid rumours about the infamous “Strictly curse”.

Despite concerns relating to it, Gemma revealed that her main worry is the location of Gorka’s dance partner. Not wanting him to be too far from home, she explained: “Every time the line-up’s announced, all I do, I think, I don’t care who it is, I just Google where they live. If they’re in Manchester, I’m like, ‘Great’.”

In an exclusive chat with the Mirror last week, Gorka himself acknowledged the difficulty of balancing his dance career with family life, confessing: “Let’s be honest, it’s not easy.” He elaborated: “It’s about making the right choices. When I was in my 20s, it was just about me, me, me. It’s easier because you kind of don’t have anything to worry about more than yourself.

“[However] when you have a partner and children, sometimes work is great. I always say, there’s a difference between living for work and work for living.”

He added: “Now when I work, I work for living and have a good life with my family and kids. The only thing we cannot get back is time. Time flies and kids grow up very quickly. It’s about making the right choice.”

He added that he sometimes says no to exciting work opportunities as he weighs up whether it would be worth spending “a long period of time away from the kids”.

Gorka explained he doesn’t want to miss out on crucial milestone moments in their development, concluding: “You can find another job or make money somewhere else [so] sometimes, quality time and time with family is not worth half the price.”

The professional dancer emphasised the importance of prioritising family over work, stating: “I’m saying no to things because as amazing as it could be, you need to work out if it’s worth it being that far away or for a long period of time away from the kids and miss so many things that will never come back.

Gorka met Gemma on Strictly in 2017, just a year after joining the show, and the pair officially announced their relationship on Valentine’s Day 2018.