Dancing on Ice’s Jorgie Porter and and her boyfriend James Atherton have revealed how they fell in love on the set of Hollyoaks.
As part of a feature in the March issue of Cosmopolitan called ‘Co-Workers with Benefits’ the pair reveal how they first met, where they had their first kiss (which did not take place on the set of Hollyoaks as their co-workers thought) and reveal their initial fears they had about starting a relationship at work.
Here are some titbits:
Jorgie Porter on meeting James Atherton on set:
"When James walked into his Hollyoaks audition 12 months ago, he grabbed my attention straight away. He got the part and we immediately gelled. Then he returned from a holiday and rolled up his sleeves to reveal big tanned, sexy biceps. I was like, 'Wow!' After that I couldn't stop thinking about him."
Jorgie on keeping their relationship a secret on set:
"When we did a stint of late-night filming, we really started falling for each other. We kept it a secret at first, which was stressful but exciting. Every time he brushed past me, I felt all giddy. When our characters had to do their first on-screen kiss, we had to pretend it was our first time when really we'd been secretly snogging for weeks!"
Jorgie on getting annoyed with James on set:
"Normally, if you’re annoyed with your boyfriend, work is your time for a breather, but we don't have that. In the beginning, if he'd annoyed me - probably for no real reason, just me attention seeking - I'd try to be moody with him at work. It was a total waste of energy because he wouldn't even notice! But it's lovely to share your work day with someone."
James on falling for Jorgie:
"I'd done theatre and TV work before but Hollyoaks was my first high-profile job as an actor. Obviously I really liked Jorgie, but I was careful about getting into a relationship with someone at work. We became really good mates so I was worried about losing that too. We had a lot of talks about it, but in the end she was like, 'Just shut up and let it happen.' And she was right."
James on the upside of meeting someone at work:
"All my friends say 'How the hell did you get her?' And maybe I wouldn't have if we hadn't got to know each other through work first."
James on his first kiss with Jorgie:
"Jorgie is something else! Our first date was crazy golf and we said whoever got the first hole-in-one had to give the other a kiss. So our first kiss was on the volcano challenge of a crazy golf course - not on the set of Hollyoaks."
The full interview and the rest of the Co-Workers With Benefits feature appear in the March issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale Thursday 2nd February.
