Strictly Come Dancing’s Wynne Evans has issued a statement saying he's been left 'heartbroken' after his on-air behaviour with Katya Jones left viewers extremely concerned.
On Saturday's episode (12 October) of the beloved BBC programme, viewers were shocked after seeing the 52-year-old Welsh opera singer placing his hand on the 35-year-old professional dancer's waist, leading her to bat it away.
Separate footage from elsewhere on the show also showed Jones avoiding a high five with Evans and rolling her eyes.
The interaction led many Strictly viewers at home worried about Katya and sharing their concerns on social media, leading to the two issuing a joint apology video.
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On Instagram, Jones said: "We just wanted to say we were messing around," and Evans chimed in: "We wanted to say sorry. It was a silly joke."
Jones has since issued a further statement following the footage posted a day later on Sunday (13 October).
She said: "Happy Sunday, everyone. Now I need to make something crystal clear.
“The hand incident that happened on Saturday night was a very silly inside joke between Wynne and I, so even the idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended me in any way is complete nonsense.
“It’s quite absurd, actually. Can we focus on how brilliantly he’s doing and what an amazing dancer he’s become?"
Meanwhile BBC News reported that a source for the show told them: "The welfare team have checked in on the pair and there are no further actions planned."
Since then, Evans has shared a statement earlier this morning (14 October) on the matter, explaining why he's 'absolutely heartbroken' following the social media response to the incident.
"Basically, firstly, I want to say I'm absolutely heartbroken about the things that are being said about me in the past day. It's not nice to live in that time," he said, speaking ahead of his radio show on BBC Radio Wales.
He maintained: "Katya and I are really really close and we're really good friends and on Saturday night, we made a stupid joke that went wrong. We thought it was really funny. It has been totally misinterpreted."
Directly responding to Katya's statement, Evans apologised to anyone who was offended by the 'joke', adding: "Everything is on Katya's socials, she's explained she doesn't feel uncomfortable and we have a great friendship.
"I'm sorry if anybody was offended by it. It was a joke. There's no real story really. I feel weird apologising as I don't feel like I've done anything. I misjudged it. If there's a joke, I'm usually at the centre of it.
"That's basically it and now I just want to keep dancing."
Topics: Strictly Come Dancing, TV And Film, BBC
Rhiannon Ingle