Professional Strictly dancer defends celebrity partner after 'hand incident' goes viral

A professional Strictly dancer has defended her dance partner after a viral video caused hundreds of people to suggest he had made her uncomfortable.

During Saturday night’s show, Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans slid his hand around the middle of Katya Jones’ waist, which she then pushed away.

The now-viral moment happened while host Claudia Winkleman revealed voting lines were open for this week’s show.

It caused hundreds of people on social media to speculate that Jones was uncomfortable during the interaction.

A second clip of the pair then went viral of Evans, a Welsh opera singer, trying to high-five Jones and getting rejected.

After the pair began trending on social media, they posted a video together saying the high-five incident was just a “silly joke”.

Evans, who became famous for acting in the operatic Go Compare adverts, said in the caption on the post: “We were just messing around. We really are amazing friends.”

Now, Jones has responded directly to the clip of her moving Evans’ hand away from the middle of her waist.

“Happy Sunday everyone,” she said in a video posted to Instagram.

“Now, I need to make something crystal clear. The hand incident that happened on Saturday night was an inside – a very silly, 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. Now, can we just focus on how brilliantly he’s doing and what an amazing dancer he’s becoming?”

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A welfare team has also now checked in on the pair, according to the PA news agency, and no further action is planned.

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The couple danced the tango to Abba’s Money, Money, Money during Saturday night’s show, scoring 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.

It came as DIY SOS star Nick Knowles became the third celebrity eliminated from the 20th anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing after Sunday night’s results show.