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Strictly Come Dancing viewers were left divided by the high scores for opera singer Wynne Evans and his partner Katya Jones on Saturday’s episode.
In the pre-taped video before the performance the partners journeyed to the Welsh countryside in a video shown on the BBC One show.
The pair danced a bouncy quickstep to “Mr Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, which saw the Welsh singer finished with a mayonnaise blob left on his head, and Jones cleaned it off.
Evans followed this by apologising for a “joke” that saw Jones move Evans’s hand from her waist last week.
Judge Anton Du Beke said “it’s a lovely show, when you dance”, while Motsi Mabuse called it “exquisite”.
Jones held Evans’s arm as the pair received 33 points.
However, controversy aside, many viewers were puzzled at the positive score that the pair received for what was mostly a comedy dance.
One viewer said on X/Twitter: “A 9?! For Wynne and Katya?!
A second wrote: “Not to be hyperbolic but i genuinely think Wynne’s quickstep was the worst dance ive ever watched on #Strictly…. it was absolutely awful i can’t believe it.”
A third added: “Not saying I’m dramatic, but I had to leave the room when Wynne received 9s.”
Some did defend Evans and Jones, admitting that they enjoyed the performance. One defender enthusiastically wrote: “WHAT A GREAT QUICKSTEP FROM WYNNE !!!! THIS WAS SUCH A FUN & JOYOUS ROUTINE. I ENJOYED IT.”
Referring to the controversy, another fan said: “I feel sorry for Wynne, him and Katya have said multiple times it was an inside joke, yes I get it’s a weird joke, but people are still being mean about him on here!”
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A third added: “The hate that Wynne is getting is so disgusting to see. How do people still not understand that these comments can ruin people’s lives?! I think he seems so lovely and they have addressed it and said it meant nothing so move on.”
The duo have been embroiled in controversy after a video went viral that showed Evans awkwardly placing his hand slowly across his professional partner’s stomach, during the 12 October episode, in which Jones removed it and placed it on her hip instead, went viral on social media.
Later, a separate clip was shared from viewers who noticed that Jones refused to give Evans a high five while stood behind the show’s co-host Claudia Winkleman. Jones turned her back on Evans and seemingly rolled her eyes at the opera singer. The pair later addressed the awkwardness as they said it had been a “joke”.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day,” he told BBC Radio Wales on Monday (14 October).
“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.”
He explained,“It was a stupid joke that went wrong, okay, we thought it was funny. It wasn’t funny. It has been totally misinterpreted.”
Additional reporting by PA.
