Neil Jones and Katya Jones think Strictly Come Dancing viewers ‘overreacted’ to Seann Walsh kiss scandal.
Seann was at the centre of a tabloid storm during last year’s Strictly after he was pictured snogging Katya, his professional partner – despite both being in relationships.
Katya is married to fellow Strictly dancer Neil, while Seann was dating Rebecca Humphries, who has since dumped him.
At the time, both issued grovelling apologies and made a sombre appearance on spin-off show It Takes Two.
Now Katya and Neil have appeared on TV together where they spoke about all the drama.
The couple appeared on ITV’s Lorraine this week to discuss their upcoming dance show Somnium.
However talk inevitably turned to the kiss incident from Strictly last year.
Recalling the reaction, Katya said: “I think it took a few days, and I didn’t realise the scale it’s going to be, sort of hyped up.
“It was shocking really, but I was just trying not to look on the outside. We were just trying to keep it all together here. It was quite a lot of things I hadn’t experienced before.”
She said of the kiss: “Silly me, isn’t it?”
Neil commented: “It was a shock. For me it was a major shock. And I appreciate that Katya told me, so I found out from Katya before I saw it in the news.
“Strictly they were fantastic with me, with us all. They supported us all and they were helping us.
“It was that shock factor, and for me it was just straight away I was more worried for Katya, because I could see what was going to happen, and I knew how strong everything was on the show and I was just like as long as she’s going to be alright.”
Neil added of the reaction: “For me, I felt they overreacted.”
“The fact we’re still talking about it, we’re over it, I think everyone else is over it, let’s just move on,” Katya added.
The BBC confirmed the 2019 Strictly Come Dancing pros earlier this year.
Alongside Neil, the male pros are AJ Pritchard Aljaž Škorjanec, Anton Du Beke, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Johannes Radebe and Kevin Clifton. Pasha Kovalev won’t be returning having decided to quit after 8 years.
The women joining the pro cast together with Katya are Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Janette Manrara, Karen Clifton,, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova and Oti Mabuse.
Strictly Come Dancing will air on BBC One later this year.
