The Strictly Come Dancing star is heading back on the road with his friend and co-star Karen Hauer
Gorka Marquez has given a sweet glimpse at how he stays connected to his family while away from home after he revealed his upcoming heavy work schedule.
The Strictly Come Dancing star is heading back on the road with his friend and co-star Karen Hauer after a brief hiatus. But him touring with their new Speakeasy show means that both will be leaving their families behind for the foreseeable.
As fans will recall, Gorka spent time away from Gemma and their kids – Mia, five, and one-year-old Thiago – during his commitment to the hit BBC One dance contest last year.
After the end of Strictly’s 2024 series, Gorka was seen soaking up the family time at home in Greater Manchester before he recently headed into rehearsals for his and Karen’s upcoming tour.
And although he’s about to embark on a gruelling 41-date UK dance tour over a less than two-month period, he’s determined to squeeze in as much time as possible with his fiancée and their two young children.
“The good thing about the tour is we only do one show a day and some of the places are near to us in Manchester, so with those shows, I’ll always drive back home,” he said. “It’s miles in the body, obviously, because you’ve done a show and then you have to drive two hours back, but it’s worth it because I get to wake up in the morning with Gemma and the kids, see them for a little bit, have a catch-up with them, take the kids to school and then go back to work.
“So they don’t feel the difference of me being away – it’s more like, ‘Oh, daddy’s gone to work, and then in the night, he comes home.’ It’s difficult with every job, I guess – all jobs require time. But now I’ve been at home since Strictly finished, so I’ve spent all these weeks at home.”
While continuing rehearsals for the upcoming tour, on Wednesday (February 19), Gorka shared a snap in which he could be seen catching up with his loved ones before another day in the studio.
He could be seen on FaceTime with Hits Radio host Gemma, who is juggling the half-term break, alongside their two children. Captioning the post, he wrote: “Morning FaceTimes,” alongside a love heart eyes emoji.
It comes after Gorka said that striking the right balance between work and family time is a major reason why he missed this year’s Strictly Come Dancing Live tour, which finished this week. “When people ask why didn’t you do the arena tour, that’s one of the reasons,” he revealed.
“I have to find balance – I think life is about balance, not just work, work, work or just family. I want to keep both of them, so I make choices.” To add to all that, for the last few weeks of the tour Gorka, 34, will be doing shows in the UK and then flying to Spain, where he’s a judge on the Spanish Dancing with the Stars, and then immediately flying back to do his next UK tour date.
“So I’m going to be finishing up a show in the evening, getting on the plane, travelling to Spain, doing a show in Spain, coming back and doing the UK show the next day,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’m going to try and document it, because it will be quite fun.”
