Strictly star Helen Skelton's dance background: All about her tap dancing talent
Strictly star Helen Skelton has been wowing viewers with her impressive dance moves on the popular BBC show, earning herself a place at the top of the leader board in last Saturday's show.
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While the star has previously admitted that she can't dance, she did enjoy tap dancing as a teenager. Read about her dancing background here…
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Is Helen Skelton a trained tap dancer?
In an interview unearthed by The Sun from 2016, the 39-year-old revealed that she won The Ken Dodd Tap Dancing Award 22 years ago.
"I won a Ken Dodd tap-dance award when I was 17," she said, before later adding: "Not a lot of people know this, but I'm very good at tap dancing. People are often amazed I can tap dance."
After the revelation sparked claims that Helen's place in the competition had been "fixed", she addressed her dancing background during an appearance on ITV's Lorraine in September.
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She said: "I found it so funny when they said it was a fix that I did the tap dancing. When I was a little girl I did do dancing, but I didn't want to wear a leotard in public."
Helen with her dance partner, Gorka Márquez
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She continued: "When they asked me to do Strictly - I was hesitant - but my friends made me do it. Who else gets to go to work and get all dressed up?
"For me, I love the challenge and the learning and technically it is work and it's really nice to work on a programme my mum and dad want to watch, they are so excited," she added.
What other dancing experience does Helen have?
Back in 2012, Helen competed in Strictly's Christmas special, dancing a Jive to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You with former pro Artem Chigvintsev. The pair were awarded a high score of 37, coming second place behind JLS singer J.B Gill, who took home the glitterball trophy.
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