Strictly Come Dancing professionals Neil and Katya Jones have branded the media furore surrounding last year’s “kiss-gate” an “overreaction”.
Last year, married couple Neil and Katya found themselves at the centre of headlines for weeks when she was caught kissing her Strictly partner Seann Walsh, despite the both of them being in relationships at that time.
While the fall-out led to the break-up of Seann and his then-girlfriend Rebecca Humphries, Katya was quick to insist that the incident was not a reflection on her marriage to Neil, a fellow dancer on the show.
Reflecting on the scandal six months later, Katya told Lorraine Kelly on Tuesday: “Do you know, I think it took a few days. I didn’t realise the scale it was going to be… so sort of hyped up. It was quite shocking really.
“It was really shocking, but I just tried not to look on the outside, we were just trying to keep it all together here.”
Neil admitted that after Katya told him about the kiss he was “more worried for her” at the height of the scandal than anything else, noting: “I could kind of see what was going to happen and then I knew how strong everything was on the show and I was just like: ‘As long as she’s going to be ok’.”
He later added that he felt people “overreacted”, with Katya saying: “Even the fact that we’re still talking about it. It’s like, we’re over it, I think everyone else is over it, let’s just move on.”
Neil recently broke his silence on the subject, telling Hello! magazine: “My mum always said, ‘People make mistakes in their lives. Don’t react, try to understand’. So that is how it always is for me.”
The pair have both been confirmed for the next series of Strictly and Katya is hoping that Neil will be given a celebrity partner for the first time.
“I feel Neil could partner any character, any age, any ability. He would come up with something so creative,” she also told the magazine.
All of the other pros from the 2018 series will also be back, apart from Pasha Kovalev, who announced his decision to step down last month.
Lorraine airs every weekday from 8.30am on ITV.
