CURSED AGAIN!
Remorse of Strictly’s cha-cha-cheats
BECKY HUMPHRIES, the live-in girlfriend of Seann Walsh, used to be a massive Strictly Come Dancing fan.
When the comedian was announced as a competitor in the show, she wrote: ‘Anyone who knows me will know that this is the best day of my life.’
For the first few weeks, Ms Humphries, an actress, has supported him throughout his Strictly ‘journey’ with great enthusiasm.
Indeed, she was visibly emotional on Saturday while watching his Matrix-themed Paso Doble, cheering and crying as he and partner Katya Jones finished their spectacular routine which scored 30 points.
But on Wednesday night — which was coincidentally his girlfriend’s birthday — Walsh spent the night unwinding with Katya at a pub in Central London.
The two of them had spent nine hours in the dance studio. After several hours of drinking and chatting, they were filmed and photographed in a prolonged and amorous farewell clinch in the street outside the Duke of York in Marylebone at around midnight.
One witness said they were ‘ snogging like teenagers’ and the rather blurry video footage shows them kissing with great enthusiasm. Katya, 29, who is married to Neil Jones, a dancer on the show, was wearing ripped hotpants with sheer tights and over-the-knee high-heeled boots — a rather highoctane outfit for a quiet drink with a colleague, you might think.
She’s previously said that she finds her partner Walsh ‘just so adorable’, and the chemistry between them was obvious during their week one Tango to SexyBack by Justin Timberlake.
They already have pet names for each other — he calls her ‘The Boss’ and she nicknames him ‘Rockstar’.
There’s obviously an attraction between them, and after several glasses of wine, it’s evident that they both succumbed to it — and
How his girlfriend cheered for him on Saturday night . . .
were caught out in the most embarrassing way.
Walsh, 32, has been living with Becky in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, since 2015 and must have had some truly toe- curling explaining to do after the pictures were published in The Sun On Sunday yesterday.
His father Michael said yesterday: ‘ What can I say? Those mistakes he has to make for himself. That’s part of life.’ Some speculated that Seann might drop out of the contest altogether — or ask to be paired with a different partner.
Last night, he released a statement saying: ‘In light of the story in today’s newspaper, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for my actions. This is no excuse but it was a one-off drunken mistake, which I am truly sorry for.’
Time will tell if he will be fully forgiven. It is telling, however, that Becky has unfollowed Seann on Instagram. Katya also released a statement.
She said: ‘I’m so sorry about any offence or hurt I may have caused with my actions. I wasn’t thinking and it was a one- off mistake after some drinks. I love my husband and we are very happy together, this is not a reflection on our relationship.’
Sources at the BBC say that Seann and Katya will continue to dance together.
So has the ‘Curse of Strictly’ struck again, or will both dance partners be able to tiptoe around the scandal?
The signs are that Katya and her husband Neil, who danced together on last night’s results show, will weather the storm. Yesterday morning, he Instagrammed a picture of his wife dancing with Seann Walsh without making any mention of their encounter at all.
He said: ‘Wow last nights [sic] @bbcstrictly movie week was really epic and I’m really proud of @mrs_ katjones and @seannwalsh Paso Doble. Great shapes and of course
WHAT SHE SAID: ‘I’m so sorry about any offence or hurt I may have caused with my actions … it was a one-off mistake after some drinks. I love my husband and we are very happy together, this is not a reflection on our relationship’
like always the choreography was on point.’
Neil does not have a celebrity partner this year but has been part of the Strictly family since 2015. Katya has gradually become more high- profile, thanks to her wildly entertaining routines with Ed Balls in 2016 and winning the glitterball trophy in 2017 with actor Joe McFadden.
Born Ekaterina Sokolova, the daughter of a Russian millionaire, she had a comfortable upbringing outside St Petersburg which gave her a taste for the finer things in life. She
WHAT HE SAID: ‘In light of the story in today’s newspaper, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for my actions. This is no excuse but it was a one-off drunken mistake which I am truly sorry for’
began dance lessons age six and spent £650 a time on outfits.
Today, she wheels her dancing shoes and gym gear around in a £1,800 Louis Vuitton case, and wore a spectacular Vera Wang dress for her 2013 wedding to Neil. Holidays are taken in fivestar hotels in Dubai and Miami.
She left Russia to dance in Blackpool ten years ago, and it was here that she met Neil.
The couple are now in the process of setting up a moneyspinning tour together, which will run next summer.
One friend of the pair said that in dancing circles the ‘odd snog’ is easy enough to forgive, and that no one will take too much notice. ‘Katya and Neil are a solid couple,’ said the friend.
Their plans are grand. Already among the most successful dancers of their generation, they aim to become the ‘First Couple’ of dance. That midnight clinch doesn’t fit in with these plans — hence Katya’s heartfelt apologies.
Just for once, you imagine, she will be hoping she gets voted out of Strictly sooner rather than later, so she can put the whole episode firmly in the past.