Katya Jones has opened up about the ups and downs she’s had during her nine-year career on Strictly Come Dancing, as she revealed how one scandal caused her to have a ‘breakdown’.
The professional dancer, 36, joined the BBC ballroom show in 2016, and has been partnered with the likes of Ed Balls, Adam Peaty and Joe McFadden – with whom she won.
However, her Strictly experience has been marred by several headline-hitting controversies over the years.
Most notably, Katya was photographed kissing her 2018 dance partner, Seann Walsh, while she was married to fellow professional dancer Neil Jones – an incident she later described as ‘a one-off mistake after drinks.’
A few series later there were rumours of a feud between the Russian dancer and her 2022 partner Tony Adams, as sources said she was ‘working him too hard’ in rehearsals and it was causing tension.
And last year, a ‘private joke’ with her opera singer partner Wynne Evans backfired, when during one live episode, Wynne appeared to move his hand along her waist, before she pushed it off – leading to more feud reports.
Katya Jones has opened up about the ups and downs she’s had during her nine-year career on Strictly Come Dancing, as she revealed how one scandal caused her to have a ‘breakdown’
The professional dancer, 36, joined the BBC ballroom show in 2016, but her Strictly experience has been marred by several headline-hitting controversies over the years (pictured with Seann Walsh in 2018)
In a new interview with OK!, Katya confessed to having struggled with the aftermath of these incidents in the past, but insisted that she ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ as she laid bare her Strictly loyalty ahead of the new season.
She explained that she tries to block out any outside noise by ‘focusing on the work’, and keeping her personal life separate and private.
She said: ‘People can like or dislike me, they can criticise me, but not my work if I do it well. It’s like I have two parallel lives – my public life and what really happens in my life. They co-exist but they’re not the same.’
But while she has now learned to ignore any negativity that may come her way, Katya admitted that in the past she has struggled, with some hard times ‘could have gone either way’.
She recalled: ‘I remember, about a year after the first big scandal, I read some silly online comments and had a breakdown in my car. I FaceTimed my mum, who was in a gym class and I couldn’t get my words out.
‘I was probably looking for sympathy and soft words but my mum knows me so well. She said, “Stop crying! Do you think everybody’s going to be nice to you? No. So wipe your tears and go and crack on with your job. You’re good at it and you signed up to it.”
‘It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it worked. What I needed in that moment was a kick up the a**e from my mum!’
And despite going through some tough times on the show, Katya insisted that she ‘wouldn’t change a single thing’, as they had made her who she is today.
A few series later there were rumours of a feud between the Russian dancer and her 2022 partner Tony Adams , as sources said she was ‘working him too hard’ in rehearsals and it was causing tension (seen together in 2022)
And last year, a ‘private joke’ with her opera singer partner Wynne Evans backfired, when during one live episode, Wynne appeared to move his hand along her waist, before she pushed it off – leading to more feud reports (seen together in January)
Her first big scandal came in 2018, when Katya was famously pictured kissing Seann during a boozy night out together while they were both in other relationships, with the smooch making front page news.
The illicit snog shocked viewers – more so once they found out it took place on Seann’s girlfriend Rebecca Humphries’ birthday.
After the night out took place, Rebecca wrote an open letter to Seann which alleged to his negative behaviour during their relationship.
Rebecca released an impassioned statement in which she revealed he called her ‘psycho’ and ‘nuts’ for questioning his friendship with Katya, before the kissing photos were made public.
While Katya and Neil initially put on a display of unity following the furore, the married couple split 10 months later and now maintain a friendship.
And while the pair are firm friends now, it wasn’t smooth sailing Katya and former footballer Tony during their time on Strictly, after they got into a ‘heated row’ in the closing moments of the week seven show.
The Arsenal player had made a string of mistakes during his Salsa earlier that night, and ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard, with Katya admitting she’d shouted at him afterwards.
Tony was then seen speaking very animatedly with Katya when Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly were wrapping up the show, prompting rumours of a ‘heated row’ between the pair.
Katya confessed to having struggled with the aftermath of these incidents in the past, but insisted that she ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ as she laid bare her Strictly loyalty ahead of the new season (seen in July)
Her first big scandal came in 2018, when Katya was famously pictured kissing Seann during a boozy night out together while they were both in other relationships, with the smooch making front page news (seen)
While Katya and Neil initially put on a display of unity following the furore, the married couple split 10 months later and now maintain a friendship (seen together in 2019)
Reflecting on the awkward moment while appearing on Good Morning Britain with Katya at the time, Tony confessed his professional partner can be ‘a little over critical’.
He admitted he just ‘wants to have a good time’ on the BBC dance contest and said they are trying to find a balance between correcting mistakes and enjoying themselves.
However, he went on to praise ‘genius’ Katya for coming up with their choreography every week, before his partner brushed off ‘feud’ rumours by joking that they ‘don’t like each other’.
Tony went on to speak about the challenges of appearing on Strictly, admitting he ‘cried’ for the first month and was ‘physically, emotionally, mentally in bits’ due to the ‘brutal’ nature of constantly learning new moves.
Proving it is all behind them now, Katya enjoyed a relaxing weekend in the Cotswolds Tony and his family back in April last year.
But then during the latest series of the show, viewers became convinced they had noticed a feud between Katya and Welsh opera singer Wynne – despite the pair blasting claims of a rift as ‘absurd’.
They clocked a moment in the Clauditorium, where Wynne could be seen putting his arm around Katya only for her to knock his hand away as it moved along her waist.
A second frosty moment saw the dancer appear to shun her celebrity partner’s attempts at a high five after Sam Quek and Nikita Kumzin’s performance.
But then during the latest series of the show, viewers became convinced they had noticed a feud between Katya and Welsh opera singer Wynne – despite the pair blasting claims of a rift as ‘absurd’ (seen)
But both stars have strenuously denied there is an issue between them, claiming it was simply a bad joke.
They posted on social media after the live show, but also addressed it on It Takes Two where Katya said she would not have Wynne ‘portrayed as someone he’s not’.
She added: ‘So I have to make this absolutely clear that the whole incident with the hand and the high five on Saturday night, it was an inside joke between Wynne and I. Was it a silly joke? Yes. Was it a bad joke? Yes.’
‘I have watched it back and I can see how people may have misinterpreted it,’ said Evans.
She went on: ‘However, it was a joke and even the idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way, it’s total nonsense and those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. So hopefully this will be the end of it.’
