Last week’s Strictly Come Dancing sparked a social media storm after Wynne Evans was seen attempting to high-five his dance partner Katya Jones before she snubbed him and turned away, which followed another clip of her removing his hand from her waist.
After she footage was widely-circulated online, both parties have explained the situation was a “joke,” quashing theories that the opera singer was making Jones “uncomfortable”.
The pair even appeared on Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two earlier this week, where they quickly addressed the claims.
Jones, 35, asked: “Can I please first get something out of the way that I feel like has overshadowed our performance for absolutely no reason?”
The Russian dancer continued: “And quite frankly, I actually can’t bear sitting here watching this man being portrayed as someone he’s not.
“In fact, it couldn’t be further away from the truth, so 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.
The BBC Strictly incident has been blasted by Women’s Aid
BBC
“Was it a silly joke? Yes. Was it a bad joke? Yes…” However, despite the two trying to put to bed the narrative that Evans had been acting inappropriately, a domestic abuse charity has now commented on the incident.
Women’s Aid has slammed the BBC show, arguing the incident caught on camera was “trivialised”.
A spokesperson from the charity told The Sun: “With an epidemic of misogyny and violence against women and girls in the UK, we need a media culture where women feel safe to speak up, where sexually inappropriate conduct is not trivialised or joked about.
“It’s important we challenge inappropriate ‘jokes’ so we don’t continue normalising toxic attitudes that cultivate these forms of gender-based abuse.”
Wynne Evans and Katya Jones explained the incident had been a joke on Strictly: It Takes Two
BBC
Speaking previously on BBC Radio Wales, Evans admitted he was “heartbroken” by the speculation.
The Welsh singer stated: “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.
Wynne Evans and Katya Jones apologised for the ‘bad joke’
BBC
“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.”
It is understood welfare bosses checked on the pair, and both have issued statements on their social media pages to reiterate the incident had simply been a joke.
