All eyes are on Strictly’s Wynne Evans and Katya Jones after ‘silly joke’

As Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight, fans are likely to be examining the behaviour of one couple in particular – Wynne Evans and Katya Jones.

Following last Saturday’s show, eagle-eyed viewers pointed out a few odd and very awkward moments that played out between the pair on live television.

In front of around six million fans, opera singer Wynne, 52, placed his hand on Katya’s waist and kept reaching it further around her midriff until she removed it with a smile on her face.

Viewers also noticed Wynne’s failed attempt at securing a high-five from his 35-year-old pro partner, to which she pulled a rather unimpressed face before turning to face the camera with a grin as if nothing had happened.

Given the fallout Strictly has faced this year with the investigation into Amanda Abbington’s formal complaints about Giovanni Pernice, as well as Graziano Di Prima leaving the show after confessing to kicking his celebrity partner, Zara McDermott, people are more poised than ever to look for any clues of discomfort or unhappiness.

However, it must be said that both Wynne and Katya have repeatedly denied that he engaged in any sort of ‘inappropriate’ behaviour or upset her at all.

Katya Jones and Wynne Evans scored 34 with their tango last Saturday, putting them joint second the leaderboard, but all anyone was talking about was their awful ‘inside joke’ (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC)

They even took to social media after the show with a video to deny any bad blood and try and nip things in the bud.

‘Hi, everyone. It’s Wynne and Katya here,’ they began, standing side-by-side still in their show costumes.

‘We just wanted to say we were just messing around in the Claudatorium on Saturday night and wanted to say sorry, it was a silly joke,’ Katya explained.

Wynne chimed in: ‘Yes, sorry!’

The singer then admitted on BBC Radio Wales on Monday that he was ‘heartbroken’ over speculation about his behaviour, which had been ‘totally misinterpreted’.

‘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 urged people to look at Katya’s own response on her social media, noting ‘she wasn’t offended in the least’ and ‘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,’ he added.

‘And I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.’

Both Katya and Wynne have defended him for accusations of inappropriate behaviour (Picture: BBC)

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.

When he and Katya later appeared on Strictly’s companion show It Takes Two, she also described it as ‘total nonsense’ as she leapt to her partner’s defence at the beginning of their interview together.

She also said she was devastated to be ‘sitting here watching this man being portrayed as someone he’s not’.

Nevertheless, Wynne has now fallen out of favour with bookmakers. After riding high as one of the favourites to clinch first place, after a series of well-marked and enjoyable routines, he’s now at risk of getting the chop this Sunday.

The couple’s position as one of the favourites to reach the final has been threatened by the fan backlash (Picture: Ray Burmiston/BBC)

Only Morning Live doctor Punam Krishnan and footballer Paul Merson are ahead of him.

Former Strictly star Ola Jordan also voiced similar concerns over Wynne and Katya’s fate in the competition.

‘It’s a tricky one because I would never think they would be in the bottom two, but, after the incident that’s gone on this week, maybe he’s at risk this weekend.

‘The public don’t like to be messed about, if they think something is going on, they’re just not going to like it, and they won’t vote for them,’ she told Mecca Bingo.

However, she voiced her hoped that they won’t, calling them ‘a good couple’ who are ‘doing well’.

‘I really like the Tango they did last week, so it would be a shame if they are in the bottom two, she added.

Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.25pm on BBC One.

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