Inside Wynne Evans' rollercoaster relationship with Katya after 'wandering hands' fiasco

Opera singer Wynne Evans, 52 and his Strictly Come Dancing partner Katya Jones, 35, have been celebrating their friendship after reaching the eight week of the show

Wynne Evans and his professional partner Katya Jones are still going strong in this year's Strictly Come Dancing competition.

The couple scored 30 points for their Rumba to This Is My Life by Shirley Bassey last weekend and as well as their fancy footwork, their relationship is also going great guns.

"Tiredness is real," Katya said in a social media comment. "But friendships and gratitude are stronger than ever. Week 8 can you believe it?."

The friendship declaration came after judge Anton Du Beke made a comment about the opera singer's "spacial awareness" on last week's show. "I want you to be aware of your spacial awareness to your partner - you get either a bit too close to her or a bit too far away from her, but apart from that I want you to carry on as you are as your technique is looking marvellous," he said.

The remarks left fans cringing after Wynne and Katya's viral "wandering hands" moment earlier on in the series. "Awkward Anton, AWKWARD!" said one viewer on social media, with another calling his remark the "most unfortunate comment ever".

Katya, 35, defended the GoCompare man, 52, after she brushed off the arm he placed on her waist in the early weeks of this year's contest. Viewers speculated that she looked uncomfortable but the couple insisted it was actually an inside joke.

"I actually can't bear sitting here watching this man being portrayed as someone he's not and in fact it couldn't be further away from the truth," Katya later said on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two. "I have to make this absolutely clear that this 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."

Wynne said he was heartbroken the incident went viral, saying: "Katya and I are really, really close and we're really good friends, and on Saturday night we made a stupid joke.

"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."

Eagle eyed Strictly fans noted the pair's lack of visibility on the show during Halloween week, apart from when they were performing. But while viewers worried this meant Wynne was no longer enjoying the series, the radio host explained he had merely suffered a wardrobe malfunction.

"There's all these conspiracy theories why I'm not in the 'Clauditorium'," the star told BBC Radio Wales, referring to Strictly host Claudia Winkleman's post-performance hub. "The reality was, I had to go and get my trousers redone because they were sticking to the sticky tape on the side. So I wasn't in the 'Clauditorium' for a little bit because I was being sewn into my costume downstairs."