It's no secret that the 20th anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing has been shrouded in controversy.
Following an investigation into the conduct of former Strictly professional, Giovanni Pernice – in which his former dance partner Amanda Abbington accused him of being 'unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean' during rehearsals – and the fact that dancer Graziano Di Prima stepped down after admitting to kicking his partner Zara McDermott during a rehearsal last year, there is a dark cloud hanging over the current series.
It therefore didn't go unnoticed on Saturday night when Katya Jones moved her partner Wynne Evans' hand from the middle to the edge of her waist while backstage with the other contestants. A viral clip showed all the couples smiling towards the camera while Katya looked visibly uncomfortable adjusting her partner's hand placement.
During the same episode, when Wynne and Katya came upstairs to join host Claudia Winkleman to talk about their performance, Wynne put both hands up for a double high five and Katya appeared to roll her eyes and reject his gesture.
Of course, it's impossible to fully gauge a situation based on a few seconds of footage, without context or word from those involved. So when these awkward moments started circulating online, people were quick to jump to conclusions. The X account Super TV wrote, 'Something very WEIRD has happened on Strictly tonight.' Another user posted, 'I don't watch Strictly anymore but this has made my blood boil.' While a third wrote, 'Catching up from last nights Strictly, looks like Katya was already pissed off with Wynne as she rolled her eyes and pied him.'
What followed was a swift 'apology' video from the couple posted to social media. In the video, the couple (still in their performance outfits) are seen backstage and Katya says: 'Hi everyone! It's Wynne and Katya here. We just wanted to say we were just messing around in the auditorium on Saturday night and we want to say sorry because it was a silly joke.' Wynne, who does not otherwise speak during the video, then adds, 'sorry'.
It plays as a bizarre sequence of events regardless of whether it was a silly joke. Unfortunately for the couple, the apology video only sparked further speculation that there might be more to the story. Super TV added, 'They have now uploaded an apology video (which feels… odd, to say the least) after these two clips started going viral tonight.' Others posted that 'the "apology" from her makes it even worse' and 'he barely says 2 words in the so called apology'.
The following day, Katya posted a second video to clarify the situation on Instagram. She said, 'Happy Sunday everyone. Now, I need to make something crystal clear. The hand incident that happened on Saturday night was an inside, a very silly, very silly, inside joke between Wynne and I. Even the idea that it made me uncomfortable or offended me in any way is complete nonsense. It's quite absurd actually. Now can we just focus on how brilliantly he's doing?'
Of course, it's important for people to take Katya's response at face value, regardless of how uncomfortable an interaction it was for audiences to watch.
What is clear is that people are interrogating the dynamics between the Strictly professionals and their partners with a watchful eye this series – and offhand quips and awkward gestures are no longer as readily tolerated. Unfortunately for the couple, and indeed the show, it's going to take more than a quick apology video to truly appease people's concerns.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).