A Baildon dancer has taken the plunge after falling head over heels in love with a Mexican high diver.

Michelle Hassan, 26, of Baildon, who spends her summers as a dancer at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, has married 28-year-old Juan Adolfo Gutierrez Munoz - known as Fito - after a two-year romance.

Fito arrived in Blackpool as one of the Acapulco Olympic High Diving Team in 1996 and Michelle, who performs with dance troupe The Space Girls at the Pleasure Beach first set eyes on him when he was performing his death-defying dives from the high board as part of a six-member display team.

She said: "The first time I saw Fito was in August two years ago when I was watching his show - it was such an unusual act and breathtaking. We were later introduced at a party and things went from there.

"We got to know each other and spent a lot of time together until it was time for Fito to go back to Mexico at the end of the season in November."

The couple kept in touch and Michelle went over to visit Fito for a month the following January after which he returned with Michelle to Blackpool to perform in a second season with the diving team. But as winter drew nearer once again and it was time for Fito to return to Mexico, he felt he just couldn't bear to be parted from Michelle any longer.

"He phoned me in December from Mexico saying he wanted to live with me in Yorkshire and asked me to marry him and I said yes," added Michelle.

The couple were married in a traditional ceremony at the Marriott Hollins Hall and Country Club Hotel, Baildon, when Fito exchanged his trunks for top hat and tails.

Fito said: "In Mexico, weddings are very simple to arrange - I was astonished by the amount of planning that went into the whole day.

"We'll have a second ceremony in Mexico next year."

The couple are now planning to settle down in Baildon at the end of their contracts in November, when Fito will look for a coaching job.

Michelle added: "We're both looking forward to the move and Fito's English is now so good he even speaks with a Yorkshire accent!"

The Acapulco Olympic High Diving Team can be now be seen in action at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, where they perform four times a day.

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