Strictly Come Dancing star Wynne Evans has said he is “heartbroken” by reactions to a hand incident with his partner Katya Jones on Saturday’s show (12 October).
The 52-year-old opera singer, best known for his Go Compare insurance adverts, received his highest scores of the series so far, but this was outshadowed by a furore caused by videos showing his background interactions with Jones.
After the episode, a video that showed Evans awkwardly placing his hand slowly across his professional partner’s stomach, in which Jones removed it and placed it on her hip instead, went viral on social media.
Later, a separate clip was shared from viewers who noticed that Jones refused to give Evans a high five while stood behind the show’s co-host Claudia Winkleman. Jones turned her back on Evans and seemingly rolled her eyes at the opera singer. The pair later addressed the awkwardness as they said it had been a “joke”.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day,” he told BBC Radio Wales on Monday (14 October).
“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.”
He explained,“It was a stupid joke that went wrong, okay, we thought it was funny. It wasn’t funny. It has been totally misinterpreted.”
Referring to social media reaction online, in which both clips have since gone viral, Evans said: “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.”
Evans praised his friendship with Jones as he added, “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.
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“And I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.”
The singer did not explain whether he was referring to the hand incident or the missed high fives. However, he acknowledged that he had “misjudged it” before he started his own radio show.
He said: “I’m having the best time of my life. I just don’t want this to be the bit that people remember.”