Strictly's Katie McGlynn shuts down Gorka rift rumours after exit

Katie McGlynn has firmly shut down talk that she and Gorka Marquez don't get on in their first interview since they were voted off Strictly Come Dancing.

Fans of the BBC dance show thought they had spotted tension between the former Coronation Street star and her professional dance partner.

But Katie has hushed speculation over a rift by saying the dance partners are going to stay friends and have already arranged a dinner date.

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Katie and Gorka spoke with Rylan on the spin-off show Strictly - It Takes Two after their exit on Sunday night.

And the Rochdale actress, who now plays Becky Quentin in Hollyoaks, said they were 'sad' to no longer be rehearsing together.

When asked about being the second couple to be eliminated from the competition, Katie said, “We’re sad because it means we won’t be rehearsing together, it means our journey’s ended but we’re still going to stay friends.

"He lives in Manchester and I live in Manchester so we’ve already set up a dinner date so yeah, we’re going to catch up.

"We’ve got mutual friends so we’ll definitely stay in touch.”

After dancing he American Smooth to Cruella De Vil from the movie Cruella in a Movie Week special, Katie and Gorka found themselves in the bottom two in the results show against Judi Love and Graziano Di Prima who performed a Charleston to When You’re Good To Mama from Chicago.

And it was sadly the end of Katie and Gorka’s Strictly journey as they became the second couple to leave the competition.

Katie said: "The fact that we were in Movie Week playing Cruella Di Vil and Pongo was incredible.

"Who can say they’ve been part of that experience? It was so much fun and to end on Movie Week was just the final gem for me.

"Emma Thompson was also in the audience. I met and spoke to her and she was so lovely so we ended on a high.”

Gorka added: “We tried our best the whole week and I think it was a great number. I’m happy that she got to do Movie Week being an actress.

"Movie Week is an important week. The only thing I’m gutted about is that as she’s obsessed with Halloween, she couldn’t get to Halloween Week but at least Cruella is a bit Halloween!”

And Katie said the experience was an achievement for her as she paid homage to Gorka.

"The whole point of me joining the show was to learn how to dance and to improve because I’m not a dancer at all – as you saw!" she said.

"But do you know what, Gorka had a lot of patience with me. He taught me and I’ll never regret it. It was a lifetime achievement.”

After the results Gorka took to Instagram to say that 'from day one' he knew they were going to 'get on and have fun.'

And he said they laughed all the time.

"You came to this show without any dance experience but you were willing to give your best to learn and improve everyday," he wrote.

"You didn’t have the easiest ride but always came with a smile and giving 100% to everything I asked you to do in the rehearsals room, you always trusted me and believed in my work and for that, I thank you.



"Thanks for all the laughs and funny memories we shared over the last few weeks. If there was something we did all the time it was that…laughing."

And Gorka's fiance former Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actress Gemma Atkinson, who was a Strictly contestant in 2017, sent a heartfelt message to Katie, saying: "You should be so proud of yourself! Doing those dances with practically no rehearsal time at all is incredible!

"I struggled with eight hours a day never mind three hours. You did ace!"

Strictly - It Takes Two is screened every weeknight at 6.30pm on BBC Two and Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday and Sunday nights on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.