Argue with Tony? People only said that because they couldn’t accuse us of having an affair
AFTER Katya Jones and former footballer Tony Adams finished a blunder-filled salsa in episode seven of this year’s Strictly, viewers thought the pair had become embroiled in an on-screen argument.
But Katya shrugged off what appeared to be a heated exchange, laughing: ‘When we can’t be accused of having a romance, then [people say] we do not get on and that we are fighting. It’s typical.’
In the closing minutes of the show earlier this month, ex-England captain Adams could be seen holding out his arms and apparently remonstrating with Katya after scoring just 21 points and being lambasted by the judges.
But she claims that they were merely analysing their routine to Pitbull’s I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) – and that he made only a few mistakes.
She said: ‘That show we were the last couple to go on, and we only had two minutes before we had to get back for the final sequence. We didn’t get a moment to have a debrief and some of the steps did go wrong.
‘It’s really important to analyse. He was telling me where he thought he went wrong but he is so tall that I couldn’t see him or hear him.
‘I’m not sure how it was deduced from the back of my head that I was angry at him! People make assumptions. We found it funny because it couldn’t be further away from the truth.’
Miss Jones revealed that she and Adams are like ‘an old married couple’ after being put together for this year’s series. She spoke of her admiration for him and how he entertained the nation despite being bottom of the leader board most weeks.
She said: ‘This show is not the world championships. People tune in and sit around on the sofa to escape. They want to turn on the telly and have colour, fun and joy on their screens.
‘They want to relate to the contestants and with Tony they did just that. He was able to connect to people at home. They took their hats off to him.
‘He wasn’t afraid to take risks and put himself out there and that’s what people enjoyed and that’s why he got so much love which he was overwhelmed by.’
Adams was forced to withdraw from the show in the episode after their salsa because the rigorous training he put his body through ‘took its toll’.
Speaking of his decision, Katya said: ‘It was the jive in week eight and it was particularly hard. It was a difficult week. He wanted to give it everything, and he did.
‘I even said to him, “Where did this come from?” But he said to me afterwards: “It doesn’t feel great.” And when it came to the dance-off he thought it would be too risky to do a jive again.
‘I was very content that if he had to go, then he had to go.
‘Our time on the show was a triumph, I was happy, he was happy.’