The opera singer – who is best known for appearing in the GoCompare adverts – took part in the 2024 run of the BBC One dance contest
Wynne Evans on Good Morning Britain(Image: ITV)
Wynne Evans has addressed what he called a ‘nightmare’ when a debate about his behaviour on Strictly Come Dancing was splashed across social media.
The opera singer – who is best known for appearing in the GoCompare adverts – took part in the 2024 run of the BBC One dance contest alongside professional dancer partner Katya Jones.
The pair made it through to the popular programme’s annual Blackpool show, after facing a social media storm earlier in Strictly’s 20th-anniversary series over what they claimed was an ‘inside joke’.
Wynne was then kicked off the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour at the start of the year after it emerged he had made a comment that was ‘deemed sexually’ inappropriate during a photo call.
He was later axed by the BBC, who opted not to renew his one-year rolling BBC Radio Wales contract following a four-month investigation.
Now, Wynne has spoken out in a fresh interview on Good Morning Britain and when Richard Madeley suggested the ‘hand on hip’ moment did appear “creepy”, he replied: “I apologise for that!”
Trying to explain the situation, the TV star continued: “Katya said to me, ‘Let’s get down the front, put your hand on my waist, I’ll move it back, we’ll see if anybody notices.’ It was as simple as that, a body language experiment, and of course, it was naïve of me.
“I hadn’t realised. I’d never lived in this world before where everybody looks at everything you do, and of course, it looked weird on the TV, it was really, really odd… but it was just messing around in the Clauditorium.”
Wynne went on to claim that he and Katya had been joking around with “missed high fives” for five weeks before the scandal erupted, and it was a “running joke” that was “taken out of context”.
Wynne spoke in a new interview on Good Morning Britain(Image: ITV)
He then admitted: “It was a nightmare,” when the moments started to appear in clips on social media and became widely discussed.
But asked if he wished he’d never gone on Strictly, Wynne replied: “I wish I’d had a better insight into it before I went into it, that is absolutely for sure.
“But it’s given me a greater understanding of my own mental health and where I am in my life and how I can now help other people who don’t want to talk about mental health.”
Wynne also gave GMB on Wednesday (November 19) a video which he claimed was a “longer” version of him and Katya apologising for their actions, in which Katya insisted that Wynne was “not a creep”, and that they were “just messing around”.
The BBC previously stated that “all parties agreed” that publishing the shorter, more concise, version was the best course of action.
A spokesperson previously said, which GMB host Susanna Reid shared during the chat: “For the avoidance of doubt, the video in question was filmed twice and all parties agreed at the time that the second, more concise version would be better suited for social media.”
The BBC also said when Wynne raised matters of his mental health declining following his appearance on the show: “We provided comprehensive duty of care for Wynne that included support by wellbeing professionals.
“He was also provided with direct access to a designated contact at the BBC who was available to assist him at anytime. Plus he has been offered continued support since his contract with the BBC concluded.”
