BBC bosses reportedly gave Katya Jones and Wynne Evans an extra chaperone after his ‘wandering hand’ incident on last week’s live show.

The dance partners have spent the week defending their awkward exchange during Saturday night’s live show.

Viewers spotted the toe-curling moment Katya moved Wynne’s hand away from her waist and snubbed his attempt at a high-five with her.

Now The Sun reports that they had extra eyes on them and that the whole crew and staff were asked to be vigilant because of the incident while the next episode was filmed. 

A source said: ‘Instead of just one, they had a chaperone each and the whole crew were generally on high alert.

BBC bosses reportedly gave Katya Jones and Wynne Evans an extra chaperone after his ‘wandering hand’ incident on last week’s live show

BBC bosses reportedly gave Katya Jones and Wynne Evans an extra chaperone after his ‘wandering hand’ incident on last week’s live show

‘It was considered a way to prevent any other foolish jokes but also protect Katya if Wynne’s waist-grab wasn’t the joke they insist it was and was indeed a grope.

‘Either way, bosses felt like it would be prudent to get extra eyes on them to prevent any more misdemeanours.’

The BBC has been contacted by MailOnline for comment. 

The incident caused such concern among BBC top brass, who have spent months firefighting accusations of misconduct on previous series, that a welfare investigation was conducted.

Katya had confirmed that she had not felt uncomfortable and no further action was taken.

However despite this the publication claims that Wynne and Katya ‘barely spent any time together off camera’ on Saturday. 

Katya has defended her celebrity partner, declaring he has been ‘portrayed as someone he is not’, as the pair insist his ‘wandering hand’ incident was a silly joke.

On Monday evening’s It Takes Two, Wynne admitted he had watched the footage of the incident back and confessed: ‘I can see how people may have misinterpreted it.’

Viewers spotted the toe-curling moment Katya moved Wynne’s hand away from her waist and snubbed his attempt at a high-five with her  

Now The Sun reports that they had extra eyes on them and that the whole crew and staff were asked to be extra vigilant because of the incident while the next episode was filmed 

Clinging to his arm, Katya said she ‘can’t bear’ the flack her co-star is getting and was empathetic that there was no wrongdoing.

She said: ‘The idea that it made me feel uncomfortable or offended in any way is total nonsense, and those that have doubts, you guys have got it wrong. So hopefully this will be the end of it, and you just keep making me smile.’

She added: ‘I can’t sit here watching this man being portrayed as someone he’s not. In fact, it couldn’t be further away from the truth. 

‘So I have to make this absolutely clear that this whole incident, with the hand and the high five on Saturday night, was an inside joke between Wynne and I. Was it a silly joke? Yes, was it a bad joke? Yes.’

Wynne, who has starred in the GoCompare adverts for over a decade, claimed that he has been left ‘heartbroken’ by the fallout after some Strictly fans called for him to be axed from the show.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, where he presents a daily show, Mr Evans said: ‘I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.

He said: ‘I’m absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day. 

‘Katya and I are really, really close and we’re really good friends, and on Saturday night we made a stupid joke. 

‘It was a stupid joke that went wrong, okay, we thought it was funny. It wasn’t funny. It has been totally misinterpreted.

‘Everything’s on Katya’s socials. She’s talked about it. She’s explained that it was a joke. She wasn’t offended in the least. She doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

‘We’ve got a brilliant friendship, an absolutely tight friendship, and I’m sorry if anybody was offended by it, but it was a joke and yeah, that’s all there is, there is no real story, really.

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‘And I feel weird apologising because I feel like I’ve not really done anything.’

He agreed he had ‘misjudged it’, when interviewed on Radio Wales Breakfast before starting his own show on the station, and confirmed he was ‘absolutely still up for’ Strictly.

He said: ‘I’m having the best time of my life. I just don’t want this to be the bit that people remember.’

Last Sunday, Evans and Jones released a video on Instagram saying they were ‘just messing around in the ‘Clauditorium’ the previous evening and just want to say sorry. It was a silly joke’.

And replying to several users on X, formerly Twitter, the dancer said: ‘You picked up on our joke!’

In another moment on Saturday night, Jones appeared to not want to high five her celebrity partner.

A caption alongside their video explained that ‘high fives is a running joke’.

Chaperones have been put in place on Strictly during rehearsals for this year after a review was launched by the BBC following Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington making complaints about her 2023 professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.

In another moment on Saturday night, Jones appeared to not want to high five her celebrity partner

The BBC apologised to Abbington and said: ‘We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.’

Pernice has always denied the allegations, and said he was ‘happy’ after the investigation cleared him of the majority of abuse allegations.

Outlining the show’s new duty of care measures in September, the BBC said: ‘In July, we introduced new measures for training and rehearsals, which are in place for this year’s show.

‘These included a production team member present during training room rehearsals at all times; two new roles on the show dedicated to welfare support – a celebrity welfare producer and a professional dancer welfare producer (both started work in August); and additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew’.