Strictly stars cut contact with Wynne Evans after controversy
Wynne Evans has admitted that the Strictly Come Dancing cast have broken ties with him.
The Welsh opera singer's time on Strictly last year was marred by controversy, sparked by an awkward moment where Katya Jones moved Evans' hand from the middle of her waist and a second moment where the professional dancer rejected his high five on the BBC show.
This year, the BBC dropped Evans — including from his role on BBC Radio Wales — after he apologised for using "inappropriate language" on the Strictly tour.
This week Strictly rehearsals began as the BBC show cast prepare to return to our screens in September with new famous faces taking part in the competition.
Now, last year's contestant, Evans, has held a candid Q&A session with listeners on his own radio station, The Wynne Evans Show, on Thursday, where he spoke about Strictly.
Strictly Come Dancing pros don't speak to Wynne Evans
Everyone wanted to know whether the singer was still in touch with any of the Strictly professionals or the 2024 celebrity partners; the question kept coming up.
Answering it for the first time, he said: "No I'm not, I'm not in contact with any of them [The Strictly cast]... Once I had a few messages from them since, not really, no. Now today, I'm not in contact with any of them today. Absolutely none of them."
When he was asked again, he explained: "Absolutely none of them [the Strictly professional dancers]. I have had some conversations with a couple of the judges who have been really nice to me, I have to say."
Later, Evans claimed the professional dancers don't speak to him because they were "scared for themselves". "I understand that," he added. "Especially for the pro dancers, Strictly is all they have. If Strictly doesn't exist, they have got a problem."
Despite losing touch with his professional dance partner Jones, he praised her. Evans said they "really got on well".
"She's a really nice person," he said. "I'm not going to say anything negative about Katya." He explained he could reach out to her. "I could text her if I wanted, I'm not in touch," Evans said.
Elsewhere on his radio show, Evans shared his frustration at some people who he felt could have "done more" to support him. "They said they'd have to check with their PR first," he said.
The Wynne Evans Show
The 53-year-old has been hosting The Wynne Evans Show since June. It is live every weekday from 9am to 12pm on the website wynneevansshow.com.
Previously, he explained: "This show is for my amazing community — The Wynners — who've supported me through thick and thin. After so many messages and calls asking me to come back, I knew I had to do something special.
"This show is my way of giving back – a space where we can come together every morning, share a laugh, play the music we love, and just be ourselves. It's more than a show – it's a proper family."
Yahoo UK has approached BBC representatives for further comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cosmopolitan
12 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
'Masterchef has always been my comfort show, is it even possible to enjoy it post-presenter scandal?'
For me, no TV show has ever been quite as comforting as Masterchef. The BBC's cooking competition, which sees amateur home cooks compete in a series of challenges for the coveted title of 'Masterchef', has long been my Sunday hungover TV show of choice, the series I stick on after a long day at work, and the programme I can play when everything just feels too much. Thanks to its formulaic challenges, displays of delicious food and a cast that is always supportive of each other, watching it has always brought me joy and calmness. But now, after nearly a decade of dedicated viewing, I'm considering not turning the TV on this year. In November 2024, one of Masterchef's two presenters Gregg Wallace faced allegations of inappropriate sexual comments from 13 people across a range of shows over 17 years. Wallace stepped away from the series, and Banijay (the production company behind the show) announced it was conducting an external review into the claims. Then, in July, BBC News reported that Banijay had concluded "[of the] 83 complaints made against Wallace, more than 40 upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact and another three of being in a state of undress." Wallace then insisted he had been cleared of "the most serious and sensational allegations". Since then, co-presenter John Torode's departure from the series has also been confirmed, with the same Banijay report revealing a complaint was upheld against Torode, which, according to BBC News, "related to a severely offensive racist term allegedly used on the set of MasterChef in 2018." Torode said he had "no recollection" of the incident but that any racist language is "wholly unacceptable". Despite their departure, the new season, which was largely filmed prior to November 2024, began airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer last night, with the broadcaster explaining they had chosen to air the show because of the contestants' achievements. "In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters," the channel said. "However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series." While I would usually be logging straight into iPlayer to watch the series, I've found myself reluctant to hit play. Is it right to support a show that featuring the two presenters to have a platform? Many don't think so. Over on X, one person wrote of the airing: "Disgusting decision by the @BBC and you have nothing to be proud of either," before adding: "It's about victims of misogyny and racism seeing the leering dinosaurs who insulted them appearing on their TV screens." Another agreed, saying they were going to boycott the show. "The BBC decision to air this series of MasterChef is appalling. It sends the wrong message, particularly to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment, sexual abuse or racial slurs. I stand with the victims who stood up to sex-pest Greg Wallace and am boycotting it." However, for many viewers, myself included, it seems a shame that the achievements and work of the 50 contestants shouldn't see the light of day, just because of the actions of the two presenters. As one person wrote: "I'm glad they're showing #Masterchef - after all the hard work they've put in, it's only fair on the contestants that it's aired." And another shared a similar sentiment: "As much as it's attracted a lot of negative headlines, I'm glad the #BBC is airing the latest series of #Masterchef - to not do so would be punishing the contestants for the wrongs of the presenters." That being said, one of this series' contestants Sarah Shafi argued the series shouldn't air - and asked the BBC not to show it. She initially rejected the BBC's offer to edit her out of the series, but once she discovered it would be going to air, she agreed to be removed from the episodes. She's since explained her decision to The Guardian, saying: "I didn't say 'edit me out'. I said: 'Axe the show, don't air the show. I'm asking you not to air the show.' Prominent figures have been abusing their power. What message does that send out to women? 'For me, it's about the enabling environment. It's that complicity. Those individual powerful men do not [act] in isolation. There is an enabling environment, turning a blind eye … It's about years of these institutions not being accountable.' Knowing how at least one person from the actual cast feels, clicking play on the episode this morning felt like uncomfortable feeling. While I'd like nothing more than to binge-watch the show, drooling over culinary creations and seeing what the contestants come up with for the invention test, actually doing it feels a little different. Much of Wallace and Torode's commentary has been edited out, and the focus is, as it should be, largely on the contestants and their cooking. I hope this isn't the end of the Masterchef, and next year we could see it return with Grace Dent, who is now presenting the Celebrity version, leading the helm. But for now, I'll have to find a new comfort show to watch.
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
The Cast Of ‘The Buccaneers' Talks Love Triangles And New Characters
The season finale of The Buccaneers is now out on Apple TV+ and once again, this second season ends on many cliffhangers that will surely left fans eager for a third season. One of the main arcs of the show has always been the love triangle between Nan (Kristine Frøseth), Theo (Guy Remmers) and Guy (Matthew Broome). However, if Nan's heart is set on Guy, things won't be so easy for the Duchess of Tintagel, especially now that she knows that her best friend, Lizzie (Aubri Ibrag), and Theo are in love. But Lizzie also had her own new love triangle this season. She was supposed to marry Hector (Jacob Ifan), however, she breaks it off the day of her wedding, after Theo's declaration. During an interview over Zoom, Ibrag said, ''I didn't expect it at all, it was a curveball, but it was incredible to have that experience. It makes sense because Theo and Lizzie, who have both been wounded, they see a lot of the pain and a familiarity in each other.'' Theo's speech before Lizzie's wedding is truly what made her realize that she couldn't marry someone she didn't love, not because Theo told her to choose him, but because he told her to choose herself and her own happiness over any man. On this true declaration of love, Remmers said, ''I love that monologue, he's running and he has to get to the wedding, and you just think he's gonna say, ''Marry me!'' But I love that moment when he's like, he doesn't want Lizzie to fall into the same trap that he did, and in that moment he puts his feelings aside and he just says ''I want you to know that this is what I went through and I don't want you to go through the same thing.'' Ibrag added: ''Also being a duke and knowing you can't divorce, Theo knows he can't offer Lizzie the safety and the love that she deserves, so it came from a place of love. I was in tears that whole time, the way he was delivering it.'' Ibrag also mentioned that the shooting of this scene was rushed as they were running out of time, but that it only added to the gravity and intensity of the scene. Hector has ambition, he's a politician who wants to establish new reforms that would help disadvantaged areas and school funding. While there's not doubt that he does have feelings for Lizzie, his pride is wounded when she turns him down, and we see a clear shift in Hector's personality. I asked Ifan how he analyzed the changes in his character when he first read the script and if felt that at some point, Hector might do something that might change completely the audience's opinion on his character. He said, ''Maybe this is my personal opinion but to be a politician, it has to be an element of your personality that you have to be super driven and very ambitious. There is always that attraction to power, it's a strange dynamic, although what I loved about Hector is that it is a rare thing when you see a politician who genuinely intends to do good, like you said, lots of social causes.'' He added: ''He has an interesting relationship with Nan in terms of trying to amplify her voice, make changes within parliament, but when it comes to love, that's where he's not very well versed and I think actually, he's not used to rejection, not used to loosing, and I think that when it happens, there's inevitably a stern shift and his ego is really bruised.'' As mentioned before, the final episode ends on so many plot twists, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. However, what the show is and has always been about, is the friendship of this group of young women, trying to navigate society's expectations and the pressure they have to endure in order to become what respectable young women should be at that time. Nan and Lizzie's friendship is very much in jeopardy and if it is clear that Nan doesn't love Theo and would rather get a divorce, she now has to face one more responsibility: she is pregnant and Theo is the father. When in a turn of events, Theo abdicates from his position as Duke of Tintagel, and would therefore be divorcing Nan to be with Lizzie, Nan runs away to protect her baby, who would be the heir of Tintagel. While speaking with Aubrag, I asked her what her reaction was when she found out that Lizzie and Nan's friendship would be put at risk, from an actor's point of view, who truly care about these characters. She said, ''I think Lizzie is a good person at heart, because even with the complexity and nature of Nan and Theo's relationship, I think Lizzie deep down thought that maybe Theo deserved someone who loved him for who he truly is. And I think Nan made it very clear that she didn't. Her heart was more with Guy.'' She added: ''So of course, you felt the guilt and everything, but when Nan goes to Italy, that was confirmation for Lizzie that 'Ok, this man is available, and I have all of these feelings for him.' So she couldn't help it. She got in that carriage and was like 'Girl, I'm just gonna do me!'. The Buccaneers season 2 is now available on Apple TV+
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
Black Sabbath Charts 10 Albums At The Same Time
Black Sabbath's music is experiencing a major resurgence in the United Kingdom following the death of Ozzy Osbourne last month. That uptick in sales and streams hasn't faded just yet, even though the shock has largely worn off. While most posthumous bumps tend to cool off quickly, the heavy metal legends are still climbing, and this frame, the band notches one of its most impressive showings on the British charts ever. Black Sabbath Charts 10 Albums at Once This week, Black Sabbath sees 10 different projects appear on the U.K.'s albums rankings. That figure is up from last frame, when the first spike in streams and sales hit in the immediate wake of Osbourne's passing. This updated total includes two titles—The Eternal Idol and Sabotage—that weren't charting last time around. Both sets return to multiple tallies and manage to land on a trio of rosters apiece. Most Black Sabbath Titles Are Gaining Unlike many catalog acts that slide slowly after a spike, Black Sabbath's discography is gaining. Nearly every title on the U.K. rankings this frame improves its standing from last week, with only Greatest Hits and Black Sabbath – Vol 4 slipping, or holding steady. The rest of the group's projects either move up or reappear on additional tallies. Paranoid Stands Out Among All Albums Paranoid remains Black Sabbath's top performer during this Osbourne-honoring run. The set appears on seven U.K. charts — more than any other in the band's catalog. It hits a new peak of No. 60 on the Official Albums Streaming chart, even as it slides slightly on a few other lists. Vol 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Reappear In addition to Paranoid, other titles are still seeing the benefit of the huge amount of attention being paid to both Osbourne and Black Sabbath's catalogs. Vol 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath both reappear on multiple tallies and in several cases, improve their positions. Both albums initially surged right after the news of Osbourne's passing, but they're not done doing so just yet. Black Sabbath Dominates the Sales Tallies Black Sabbath continues to dominate the U.K.'s sales-specific rosters. This week, nine of the group's full-lengths appear on the Official Albums Sales chart. That sum includes four returns to the Official Albums chart, which blends physical and digital sales with streaming.
