Strictly's Wynne Evans left ‘devastated’ by public’s reaction to him as hate sites grow

Lorraine: Strictly fans give opinion on Wynne Evans leaving tour

Wynne Evans has recently been embroiled in major controversy following his stint on BBC’s star-studded competition show, Strictly Come Dancing.

Although the opera singer has stepped down from the live tour with his fellow co-stars, this isn’t the first time Wynne has faced negative fallout from the British public.

The 53-year-old first gained notoriety in 2009 as the opera-singing Italian star of the Go Compare TV adverts. Dubbed the 'Go Compare Man', Wynne played Gio Compario - the crooner who had the company’s notorious jingle stuck in the heads of millions.

Viewers quickly complained about the ad and even started a viral hate campaign which stretched across social media. According to Vice, the Facebook group GO COMPARE! GO COMPARRRREEEEEE’ ‘GO F**** OFFFFFF’ was created and had garnered 74,000 people.

The hatred was also evident in real life as people began vandalising the billboards. In one poster, someone crossed out the word “compare,” and replaced it with “away.”

Wynne Evans was forced to step down from the Strictly tour (Image: BBC)

In another, “compare” was once again crossed out and instead, the ad read: “Go get another job.” In 2012, Wynne’s character Gio was voted “Britain’s most irritating man,” and he was also subjected to hurtful comments from trolls.

Speaking on the backlash to Vice, the singer told the publication: “I was absolutely devastated by the reaction because I thought everybody would love it.

“But within minutes, there were hate sites dedicated to me on social media. You know, it's like an addiction. I’d get up every day and read through them, and it was horrible.”

Revealing why he kept on appearing in the adverts, Wynne added: “I’d been given this decent sum of money for featuring in the ads. It wasn’t huge, but it was more than I had ever earned in one chunk before, right?"

Wynne Evans starred in the Go Compare adverts as Gio Compario (Image: YouTube)

As for the trolls, Wynne recalled: “One time I replied to this guy who would always call me stuff, saying, ‘You know what? I’m paying a mortgage, I’m an opera singer, and I’m in an advert for a price comparison website – you can use it if you want to use it, if you don’t want to use it then you don’t have to use it. But don’t do this because it’s pointless.’”

Wynne remarked: “We actually met up for a beer and after that became great friends.”