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<\/p>\nHelen Skelton has revealed how Strictly Come Dancing boosted her confidence again after a whirlwind 12 months including the breakdown of her eight-year marriage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Countryfile presenter, 40, signed up for the 2022 series of the BBC ballroom dancing contest after she split from Richie Myler\u00a0that April.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helen went on to reach the final of the competition, growing in confidence throughout including a very sexy cabaret routine with pro partner Gorka Marquez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite eventually losing out on the coveted Glitterball trophy to Hamza Yassin and partner Jowita Przystal, Helen still sees herself as a ‘winner’.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Mirror, she said: ‘I think everybody at some point needs a little reminder of, “Actually, you\u2019re really good at this, here\u2019s your invisible crown, pop it on.”<\/p>\n
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Helen Skelton has revealed how Strictly Come Dancing boosted her confidence again after a whirlwind 12 months<\/p>\n
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Helen went on to reach the final of the competition, growing in confidence throughout<\/p>\n
‘I was like, “OK, I\u2019m hurtling towards 40, I\u2019ve just had another child. I\u2019m on my own. I\u2019ve moved my life, I\u2019ve moved my house”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I was on a bit of a sticky wicket but the [pro] dancers are all like, “Oh my God, you have three children, that\u2019s incredible. You bought a house, that\u2019s incredible.”‘\u00a0<\/p>\n
While juggling work and three children with her time on the show, Helen said Strictly brought her ‘back to life’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helen\u00a0is a mother of three and has Ernie, eight, Louis, five, and Elsie, two, with ex Richie.<\/p>\n
She announced her split from England and Leeds Rhino rugby star Richie in April last year – and finally broke her silence earlier in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While she was left devastated by the break-up she said she wants to keep the sportsman in her life to a certain extent for the sake of her children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helen has opened up about her love life in her new autobiography\u00a0In My Stride, in which she wrote according to\u00a0The Sun: ‘I was in shock.<\/p>\n
‘I know that following break-ups, people often say they didn\u2019t see it coming and it sounds like a cliche, but that was me.’<\/p>\n
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End of the road:\u00a0The television presenter announced her split from England and Leeds Rhinos rugby league star Richie in April last year<\/p>\n
Helen’s heartache sparked her decision to join Strictly last year, with the presenter previously admitting that she struggled to feel ‘sexy’ even when encouraged by her professional dance partner Gorka Marquez.<\/p>\n
She penned: ‘In week two, Gorka asked me why I didn’t feel sexy. It was an awkward question that immediately made me cringe.<\/p>\n
‘Why ask me that? I was just there for the banter. I have never sexy, I was the cute and funny type.<\/p>\n
‘He was asking a woman with three children under six, whose husband had just left her and was with another woman, TO BE SEXY.<\/p>\n
‘I thought, “Who would feel good about themselves in that scenario?”‘<\/p>\n
But later on, Helen revealed she had regained her ability to feel sexy as the show went on.<\/p>\n
Appearing on Loose Women\u00a0in February, Helen reflected on her journey on the show and how dance partner Gorka Marquez helped make her remember ‘who I am’.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘In the first few weeks I didn’t know how to own it and be sexy and sassy but then it got easier,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Helen signed up for Strictly in 2022 after she split from Richie Myler earlier that year<\/p>\n
‘Then I stopped questioning it and I just stopped caring less. I was conscious it would be over in the blink of an eye so I just gave it my all.’<\/p>\n
Helen went on to talk about her racy cabaret routine where she dressed up in black lingerie and stockings – with many fans going on to call it the ultimate ‘revenge’ dance.<\/p>\n
She said: ‘The cabaret routine was about being fierce and powerful and that’s my version of sexy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘It made me remember who I am this show. By the end I wasn’t thinking “oh my god” I just wanted to have a good time.’<\/p>\n
Despite her hurt she will ensure Richie is a constant in her life so her children always have a father figure.<\/p>\n
And she is refusing to delete pictures of herself and Richie taken during the happy times they shared together which she has posted on social media.<\/p>\n
She insists: ‘I want them to know that we loved each other, but things change and that\u2019s OK too.’<\/p>\n
Helen was so distraught after her split from Richie that she was unable to tell her parents at first.<\/p>\n
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Family: Helen, who shares sons Ernie, eight, Louis, six, and 22-month-old daughter Elsie with Richie, wants the sportsman as a constant in her life so their children have a father figure<\/p>\n
She claims she kept it a secret from them for some time as she did not want to ‘inflict’ pain on them.<\/p>\n
But when her father noticed her spending a lot of time on her own with her children at her marital home, he surprised her with a visit from Cumbria.<\/p>\n
Helen wrote: ‘He immediately stepped in, knowing I needed him, even though I didn\u2019t want to admit it.’<\/p>\n
Since his split from Helen, Richie has gone on to have a baby\u00a0with new girlfriend Stephanie Thirkill, 32, the daughter of Leeds Rhinos president Andrew.<\/p>\n
Helen is said to have also begun dating again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helen and Richie married in 2013 and moved into their Yorkshire property together seven years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In August Helen quit her Radio 5 Live show on air after just a year to spend more time with her children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Moving on: Richie and Helen separated in April 2022 and shortly afterwards the rugby league ace started a new romance with Stephanie Thirkill, the daughter of the multi-millionaire President of the Leeds Rhinos club he plays for<\/p>\n