Strictly Come Dancing star Wynne Evans has said he’s “heartbroken” after the fallout from “a stupid joke that went wrong” on Saturday’s show.
Viewers noticed some apparently awkward moments between the opera singer and his dance partner Katya Jones, when she seemed to decline a high-five and later appeared to move his hand from her waist.
Jones said on Monday evening that Evans has been “portrayed as someone he is not”.
“I have to make this absolutely clear, that this whole incident with the hand and the high five on Saturday night, it was an inside joke between Wynne and I,” she told the It Takes Two programme. “Was it a silly joke, yes, was it a bad joke, yes.”
Speaking on Monday on BBC Radio Wales, where he hosts a programme, Evans said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.”
He added: “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, OK? We thought it was funny. It wasn’t funny. It has been totally misinterpreted.”
He continued: “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 that’s all there is. There is no real story, really.”
The pair apologised in a video posted on Saturday night. On Monday, Evans said: “I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.”
He and Jones came joint second on the leaderboard on Saturday after performing the tango to Abba’s Money, Money, Money.
He said he remained enthusiastic about the show despite the recent furore.
“I’m absolutely still up for it. I’m having the best time of my life. I just don’t want this to be the bit that people remember,” he said.
Evans was addressing the issue on Radio Wales Breakfast on Monday, shortly before starting his own show.
The BBC declined to comment, but a Strictly source said the show’s welfare team had “checked in on the pair and there are no further actions planned”.
