The former Strictly Come Dancing professional made an accusation about another dancer
The star accused another professional of copying Katya Jones’ routines on Strictly(Image: BBC)
A former Strictly Come Dancing professional has hit out at another dancer centred on plagiarism.
Oti Mabuse, who was on Strictly for seven years, was a favourite of many fans who watched the show. She rubbed shoulders with tonnes of celebrities and other professionals during her time there.
However, one professional dancer has now found herself at the centre of a heated plagiarism row, after a social media user published a video accusing Dancing With The Stars professional, Witney Carson, of copying Katya Jones’ choreography.
In the TikTok video, @scdxediits paired clips of dances performed this year by Katya and Emmerdale’s Lewis Cope alongside clips of Witney and her partner Robert Irwin where the dance moves seem similar.
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The poster captioned the video: “How Witney feels after copying Katya’s choreography once again,” the Mirror reported.
There were dozens of comments under the post, but one in particular caught the eye of a number of Strictly fans.
Oti shared how she agreed with the original poster with the suggestion that had made, with a telling comment that read: “Been saying this for years…”
Katya’s two routines that the original poster referenced was her paso doble to The Plaza of Execution and her couple’s choice to Creep by Radiohead.
The paso’s final move saw Katya lie on the floor, whilst Lewis leapt in the air and landed in a crouched position with his feet either side of his partner’s waist. The same move was then seen performed by Witney and Robert in their paso doble to Icky Thump by the White Stripes.
Similarly, Katya and Lewis’ couple’s choice involved a move where the Emmerdale star held on to Katya’s head and slowly lowered her towards the ground whilst she remained in a stiff plank.
The same move was executed by Witney and Robert during their quickstep to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl in the final.
Another fan argued Katya may have copied Witney. They said: “Do they realise DWTS started a few weeks before Strictly which means that Katya and Lewis copied Robert and Witney?”
However, both dances by Katya and Lewis were performed before each of Witney and Robert’s. The paso was danced on October 11 and the couple’s choice on November 1, whilst Witney’s paso was danced on November 4 and the quickstep on November 25.
But a second fan also pointed out that Katya did not invent these moves, as Alan Bersten executed the paso leap last year as well.
“Katya did not create either of those moves, and technically, Katya copied Alan who did it last year on DWTS,” they said over a picture of Alan dancing a paso.
Another agreed: “As a dancer this is crazy. Those moves existed long before Katya, pretty sure Alan did the first one last year too.” A third said: “Katya didn’t create those moves tho. If you watch loads of ballroom dances you’ll see those moves in them.”
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Witney and Robert won this series of Dancing With The Stars, after wildlife conservationist Robert became a firm fan favourite, not just with DWTS audiences but with those who did not previously watch the show as well.
Clips of Robert dancing trended on TikTok, as did many of his famous animal-loving family.
Meanwhile, Katya and Lewis, who have consistently been top scorers on Strictly, were eliminated from the show in the quarter final.
During musical’s week, Lewis failed to impress judges or fans with his salsa to The Dance At The Gym from West Side Story.
He ended up in the dance off with Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, who had scored a perfect 40 for their charleston to Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat from Guys And Dolls.
The Mirror reached out to Oti’s representatives for comment.
