Strictly Come Dancing fans are convinced they’ve worked out the reason why Wynne Evans and Katya Jones haven’t revealed the ‘inside joke’ that led to the opera singer being accused of ‘groping’ his partner
Strictly: Katya Jones issues statement defending Wynne Evans
Strictly Come Dancing fans are worried about Wynne Evans as the drama from Saturday night’s live show rumbles on.
After a rather uncomfortable scene over the weekend, the BBC has declared they will take “no further action” having checked in on opera singer Wynne and his professional partner Katya Jones.
Following a moment on Saturday night’s Strictly Come Dancing that saw some awkwardness when Katya moved Wynne’s hand away from her waist, Katya has since spoken up about the backlash – sharing her distress over the way Wynne has been “portrayed as someone he is not” on Monday night.
Both Wynne and Katya have insisted the wandering hand moment was simply a poorly judged “inside joke” and stressed things are fine between them. Despite the pair’s statements, many Strictly fans are wondering why Wynne and Katya haven’t let the audience in on the joke if it was simply a bit of fun, rather than inappropriate behaviour.
But some armchair detectives believe they’ve cracked the code on why the duo are keeping mum about the actual joke. “One explanation given to me was they they were poking fun at other couples for all their hugging and kissing and that’s why they can’t say what the joke was,” one viewer has speculated on social media.
Others shared concern for Wynne in general amid the backlash, with one penning: “Wynne is being cancelled on social media and I find it heartbreaking. Anyone who has any sort of personality gets shut down these days. I don’t believe he’s a perv. I believe Katya when she says it was a joke.”
Another fumed: “For god’s sake, she says there was no problem, he says there wasn’t a problem. So there wasn’t a problem. Why are ppl looking for stuff, when two adults say there no issues. One angry fan stated: “Not all strictly fans want him axed, I love watching them and looking forward to next week. He’s had my vote every week and that won’t change.”
On Tuesday, a source from the BBC revealed to the Mirror regarding the incident: “Wynne and Katya have confirmed that their interactions in the Clauditorium were silly jokes they had planned together and have apologised to anyone who may have misinterpreted them. They addressed them on Wynne’s Instagram, where their apology can be found. Katya would like to clarify further that she was not offended by Wynne and was not made to feel uncomfortable in the least she has also clarified on her Instagram. The welfare and production teams have checked in on the pair and there are no further actions planned.”
Wynne and Katya both appeared on the BBC’s sister show It Takes Two on Monday night, where Katya spoke out about the social media-circulated incident. She aired her grievances, stating it had forced them to “get something out of the way that I feel overshadowed our performance for absolutely no reason”.
Katya vehemently dismissed any insinuations that she was “uncomfortable or offended” as “total nonsense”. Speaking to host Fleur East, she insisted: “Quite frankly I can’t bear sitting here watching this man being portrayed as someone he is not,” and clarified, “And in fact it couldn’t be further away from the truth so I have to make this absolutely clear, that this whole incident with the hand and the high five on Saturday night, it was an inside joke between Wynne and I. Was it a silly joke, yes, was it a bad joke, yes.”
Wynne acknowledged that the controversial moment “could see how people may have misinterpreted it”. Katya continued: “Even the idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense. Those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. Hopefully this will be the end of it. He just keep making me smile please, because my Sunday was pretty boring without you making me belly laugh all day long.”
Opera singer Wynne also shared his feelings with BBC Radio Wales listeners on Monday morning, expressing his sadness: “I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.” He admitted: “It’s not nice to live in that time, but basically Katya and I are really, really close and we’re really good friends, and on Saturday night we made a stupid joke. It was a stupid joke that went wrong, okay, we thought it was funny. It wasn’t funny. It has been totally misinterpreted.”
The father-of-two went on to clarify the situation, pointing out that his dance partner Katya had already addressed the incident online: “Everything’s on Katya’s socials. She’s talked about it. She’s explained that it was a joke. She wasn’t offended in the least. She doesn’t feel uncomfortable. We’ve got a brilliant friendship, an absolutely tight friendship, and I’m sorry if anybody was offended by it, but it was a joke and yeah, that’s all there is, there is no real story, really. And I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.”
However, reflecting on the backlash, Wynne conceded he had “misjudged it” during an interview on the Radio Wales Breakfast show before his own show, while also confirming his ongoing enthusiasm for the contest: “I’m having the best time of my life. I just don’t want this to be the bit that people remember.”
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