Katya Jones has spoken out following backlash over a gesture made by her Strictly Come Dancing partner, Wynne Evans.

Fans of the long-running BBC dance competition were stunned on Saturday night when they saw 52-year-old opera singer Wynne seemingly caress the stomach of 35-year-old professional dancer Katya on the show. The attention-grabbing moment occurred while the cast of the 2024 season were gathered together in the green room.

Viewers watched as Wynne stood behind Katya with his hand on her waist. As he slowly moved his hand around the side of the professional dancer’s body, she noticeably slapped the wandering hand away.

But now Katya has hit out against a backlash against Wynne after some fans accused him of acting in an ungentlemanly fashion – with the Russian dancer claiming it was all a joke. She said: “I need to make something crystal clear.

Katya Jones has addressed the backlash around Wynne Evans’s hand gesture on Strictly ( 
Image:
instagram.com/katyajones)

The pair are dancing for the glitterball on the long-running BBC show ( 
Image:
PA)

“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 in any way is complete nonsense. It’s actually absurd.”

Katya’s statement comes after Wynne discussed their close bond with the Daily Mail. He told the publication: “She’s almost 20 years younger than me, and she seems 20 years wiser than I am. We talk a lot about what’s going on in life and what’s going on in the world.

“I suppose I’ve learned that I can only focus on myself. I can’t control anything else around me. And I mean, I still not very good at that, but I can’t control everything around me. I can only control what I’m doing and how I’m doing and how I’m performing and how I’m behaving, and that’s all I can really focus on.”

After the clip was shared widely on social media, Katya and Wynne posted a video to explain the moment, telling fans it was a “joke”. Addressing concerned fans in a video, Katya began: “Hello everybody it’s Wynne and Katya here. We just wanted to say we were just messing around in the Clauditorium on Saturday night and just want to say sorry. It was a silly joke.” Wynne added: “Yes sorry.”

In the caption, Wynne added: “Apologies for this tonight we were just messing around. We really are amazing friends. The high 5’s is a running joke. Have a great evening @katyajones.” But fans were less interested in the high fives and commented about opera singer Wynne’s wandering hand on Katya’s waist, although there is no suggestion on the show that he behaved inappropriately.

A Strictly source told the PA News agency: “Wynne and Katya have confirmed that their interactions in the Clauditorium were silly jokes they had planned together and have apologised to anyone who may have misinterpreted them. They addressed them on Wynne’s Instagram, where their apology can be found. Katya would like to clarify further that she was not offended by Wynne and was not made to feel uncomfortable in the least.

“The welfare team have checked in on the pair and there are no further actions planned.”