Katya Jones lashes out at critics for ‘attacking’ Wynne Evans and doubles down on claim their awkward Strictly Come Dancing exchange was an inside joke (but admits it wasn’t a good one) – after incident ‘overshadowed’ their live performance

Strictly professional Katya Jones has defended her celebrity partner Wynne Evans declaring he has been ‘portrayed as someone he is not’, as the pair insist his ‘wandering hand’ incident was a silly joke.

Her emotional defence of the opera singer comes after their appearance on the fourth live show on Saturday, when viewers spotted a toe-curling interaction between Evans, 52, and Jones, 35, as she moved his hand away from her waist and snubbed his attempt at a high-five with her.

On Monday evening, the duo appeared emotional as they gave a joint interview on Strictly spin off show It Takes Two.

Evans, who earlier in the day had said he was ‘heartbroken’, admitted he had watched the footage of the incident back and confessed: ‘I can see how people may have misinterpreted it.’

Clinging to his arm, Jones said she ‘can’t bear’ the flack her co-star is getting and was empathetic that there was no wrongdoing.

She was previously forced to dismiss growing rumours of a feud after she was caught swiping his hand away following their live performance on Saturday

The professional dancer doubled down on her claims that their awkward Strictly Come Dancing exchange was an inside joke and added that fan reaction had ‘overshadowed’ their live performance

She said: ‘The idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense, and those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. So hopefully this will be the end of it, and you just keep making me smile.’

She added: ‘I can’t sit here watching this man being portrayed as someone he’s not. 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, was an inside joke between Wynne and I. Was it a silly joke? Yes, was it a bad joke? Yes.’

The incident caused such concern among BBC top brass, who have spent months firefighting accusations of misconduct on previous series, that a welfare investigation was conducted.

A source said: ‘The Strictly welfare team checked in on the pair individually to confirm that nothing was awry and that both were comfortable continuing with the partnership.

‘Training room researchers have kept meticulous logs of what goes on during rehearsals between every celebrity couple, and Wynne and Katya are no different.’

‘If there had been any form of misbehaviour or cause for concern, then it would have been flagged by the welfare team.

‘There hasn’t been and they consider the matter closed.’

Katya and Wynne both admitted that their ‘inside joke’ had been silly but refused the idea that there was anything amiss between them

Wynne explained  that having watched the footage he could understand how fans of the show may have concluded something was wrong between the pair

The BBC confirmed that no further actions are planned.

Evans, who has starred in the GoCompare adverts for over a decade, claims that he has been left ‘heartbroken’ by the fallout after some Strictly fans called for him to be axed from the show.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, where he presents a daily show, Mr Evans said: ‘I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.

He said: ‘I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day. 

The duo had become surprise favourites to win this year’s Strictly, scoring 34 out of 40 from the judges for their tango on Saturday.

‘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.

Katya said: ‘However it was a joke and the idea it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense’

‘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.’

He agreed he had ‘misjudged it’, when interviewed on Radio Wales Breakfast before starting his own show on the station, and confirmed he was ‘absolutely still up for’ Strictly.

He said: ‘I’m having the best time of my life. I just don’t want this to be the bit that people remember.’

As the dancing duo gave the downlow about any secret romances going on behind the scenes in a recent interview, Wynne randomly steered the question onto Katya

Wynne asked: ‘I’ve not seen anyone [getting close], are you getting close to anyone?’

On Sunday, Evans and Jones released a video on Instagram saying they were ‘just messing around in the ‘Clauditorium’ the previous evening and just want to say sorry. It was a silly joke’.

And replying to several users on X, formerly Twitter, the dancer said: ‘You picked up on our joke!’ 

In another moment on Saturday night, Jones appeared to not want to high five her celebrity partner.

A caption alongside their video explained that ‘high fives is a running joke’.

But viewers of Sunday night’s results show were not convinced by the explanation, claiming they had spotted Jones appearing to ‘glare’ at her celebrity partner. 

During the show, Claudia asked Evans how he felt, noting he looked shocked.

Wynne replied: ‘I am shocked because I didn’t think I’d survive week one so to be here after having done a tango is really thrilling.

‘And I had such a good time and thank you to Katya’s clever choreography.’

As Evans gave his answer fans spotted that Katya remained stony faced and even appeared to wince as the opera singer evaluated his performance.

A Strictly source said: ‘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.

‘The welfare team have checked in on the pair and there are no further actions planned.’

The duo had their highest score so far on Saturday, with the judges giving them 34 points for their tango to Abba’s Money, Money, Money on Saturday.

Posting on Sunday after the results were revealed, Jones told Instagram followers: ‘Thank you so much for your kind support everyone! 

‘We are so excited for the next dance. Every day Wynne makes me smile and laugh, but every Saturday he leaves me absolutely speechless when he takes the dance to another level!

‘It is soo impressive and I can’t wait to create another number for you to perform!’

Strictly’s Wynne Evans, 52, asked Katya Jones, 35, if she’s ‘getting close to anyone’ on the BBC show during a recent interview together

Taken aback, Katya replied: ‘Me?’ Wynne said: ‘Yeah. I don’t know, I’ve not seen you getting close [with anyone], though you could be’

Chaperones have been put in place on Strictly during rehearsals for this year after an review was launched by the BBC following Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington making complaints about her 2023 professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.

The BBC apologised to Abbington and said: ‘We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.’

Pernice has always denied the allegations, and said he was ‘happy’ after the investigation cleared him of the majority of abuse allegations.

Outlining the show’s new duty of care measures in September, the BBC said: ‘In July, we introduced new measures for training and rehearsals, which are in place for this year’s show.

‘These included a production team member present during training room rehearsals at all times; two new roles on the show dedicated to welfare support – a celebrity welfare producer and a professional dancer welfare producer (both started work in August); and additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew’.