Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans has said he is “heartbroken” over suggestions he made his professional dance partner Katya Jones “uncomfortable” during Saturday night’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Evans, 52, was captured on film sliding his hand around Jones’s waist before she promptly pushed it away.
The moment happened while presenter Claudia Winkleman revealed that Strictly voting lines were open for viewers to call, and quickly went viral.
A second clip of the pair showing Evans – who is famous for his role in GoCompare insurance adverts – trying to high-five Jones and getting rejected, was also widely shared on social media.
Jones dismissed the controversy as a “silly joke” during an appearance on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday evening.
Speaking earlier on Monday on BBC Radio Wales, where he presents a show, Evans said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.
“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.”
He went on: “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 that’s all there is. There is no real story, really.
“I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.”
He agreed he’d “misjudged” the situation but was “absolutely still up for” competing on the show.
Pic: BBC/PA
A BBC spokesperson told Sky News: “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.”
After the pair began trending on social media at the weekend, they posted a video together calling the high-five incident a “silly joke”.
Speaking on Monday evening, Jones, 35, also said she wanted to “get something out of the way that I feel overshadowed our performance for absolutely no reason”.
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She told It Takes Two: “Quite frankly I can’t bear sitting here watching this man being portrayed as someone he is not.
“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.”
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Jones added: “Even the idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense.”
The BBC confirmed that Strictly welfare and production teams had “checked in” on Evans and Jones and that no further actions were planned.
The couple danced the tango to ABBA’s Money, Money, Money during Saturday night’s show, achieving their highest score to date, 34 points.
This season marks Strictly’s 20th anniversary with a new cast of celebrities and some changes, including the presence of chaperones “at all times” during rehearsals, following a number of accusations of bullying on the show.
Earlier this month, the BBC apologised to former Strictly contestant Amanda Abbington, after they “upheld some, but not all” of her complaints about professional dancer Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour during her time on Strictly.
