Katya Jones and Wynne Evans show difficulty as they head into training after days of trying to save their awkward Strictly Come Dancing exchange.

Katya Jones and Wynn Evans look nervous as they walk to Be Sure Tuesday's dance practice.

During the Saturday Night Live show, the dance partners have spent the week defending their awkward exchange while in the audience Katya, spotted toe-curling, took Vine's hand off her waist and blocked his attempt to high-five her.

The opera singer, 52, and her pro-dance partner, 35, have been hard at work this week protecting the hamper, but on Tuesday they were far from their usual bubbly selves.

Neither Katya nor Wynn managed to crack a smile, showing the strain on their faces as they visited their practice studio in Wales.

The dance partners have spent the week defending their awkward exchange during Saturday's live show, when viewers saw the moment Katya's hand moved from her waist.

The appearance comes just hours after the pair made an emotional appearance on the Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two.

Katya Defending his celebrity partner, As Jodi insists her 'wandering hand' incident was a funny joke, she has been 'portrayed as something she's not'.

In a Monday evening TV appearance, Vine He admitted to watching footage of the incident again and admitted: 'I can see how people got it wrong.'

Clinging to his hand, Katya said she couldn't stand her co-star's shortcoming and showed compassion that there was nothing wrong.

She said: 'The idea that it made me uncomfortable or offended in any way is absolutely nonsense, and doubters, you've got it wrong. So I hope this is the end, you make me laugh.

He added: 'I cannot sit here and watch this man be portrayed as someone he is not. In fact, that couldn't be further from the truth.

'So I have to be clear that this whole incident on Saturday night was a joke between Wynne and myself. Is this a funny joke? Yeah, is this a bad joke? Yes.'

The incident has caused concern among senior BBC officials, who have launched a public interest inquiry months after allegations of misconduct in previous series.

The opera singer and her pro-dance partner have been hard at work this week, securing a relationship (pictured on Saturday)

They looked far from their usual bubbly selves as they walked into a dance studio on Tuesday

A source said: 'A strict welfare team checked the pair individually and confirmed nothing was untoward and both were comfortable continuing their partnership.

'Rehearsal room researchers meticulously record what goes on between every celebrity couple during rehearsals, and Vine and Katya are no different.'

'If there was any misconduct or cause for concern, it would have been flagged by the welfare committee.

'There wasn't and they consider the matter closed.'

The BBC confirmed that no further action was planned.

Wynne, who has starred in GoCompare ads for more than a decade, says she is 'heartbroken' by the fallout after some die-hard fans called for her to be fired from the show.

Neither Katya nor Vaino managed to crack a smile, showing the strain on their faces

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, where he presents his daily programme, Mr Evans said: 'I am absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me in the last day.

He said: “I am absolutely heartbroken by what has been written about me in the past day.

The duo became surprise favorites to win this year's Strictly, scoring 34 out of 40 from the judges for their tango on Saturday.

It was not good to live at that time, but basically Katya and I are very close, we are very good friends, and on Saturday night we made a stupid joke.

'It was a stupid joke, it was wrong, well, we thought it was funny. It's not funny. This is completely misunderstood.

'Everything is in Katya's community. She talked about it. She explained it was a joke. She wasn't offended at all. She didn't feel uncomfortable.

The appearance comes just hours after the pair made an emotional appearance on Strictly spin off show It Takes Two

'We have a wonderful friendship, absolutely tight friendship, and I'm sorry if anyone's offended by that, but it's a joke and yeah, that's it, there's no real story, really.

And I feel weird about apologizing because I feel like I didn't really do anything.

Interviewed on Radio Wales Breakfast before launching his own show on the station, he admitted he 'misjudged' and confirmed he was 'absolutely still ready'.

He said: “I'm having the best time of my life. I don't want it to be something that people remember.'

On Sunday, Evans and Jones posted a video on Instagram saying they were messing around in the 'gladiatorium' earlier in the evening and said they were sorry. It's a silly joke.

And responding to several users on X, earlier on Twitter, the dancer said: 'You took our joke!'

In a recent interview, Vinay casually popped the question to Katya as the dancing couple complained about secret romances going on behind the scenes.

In another moment Saturday night, Jones didn't want to high-five his celebrity partner.

A caption accompanying their video explained 'High fives are a running joke'.

But viewers of the show's finale on Sunday night were not convinced by the explanation, claiming they saw Jones 'glaring' at her celebrity partner.

During the show, Claudia asked Evans how he felt and he was shocked.

Wynne replied: 'I'm shocked because I didn't think I'd survive a week, so it's a thrill to be here after doing Tango.

“I had a really good time, thanks to Katya's brilliant choreography.”

Fans found Katya stone-faced as Evans gave her response, and the opera singer seemed to laugh as she assessed her performance.

Scoring 34 out of 40 from the judges at Saturday's tango, the duo became surprise favorites to win this year's must-win.

Chaperones have been kept in place during this year's rehearsals after a review launched by the BBC after Sherlock actress Amanda Abington complained about her 2023 professional dance partner Giovanni Bernice.

The BBC apologized to Abingdon, saying: 'We have assessed the complaints and we have confirmed some complaints, but not all.'

Bernice has always denied the allegations and said she was 'delighted' after the trial cleared her of most allegations of wrongdoing.

Outlining the show's new mandatory maintenance 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.

'There was always a production team member present during rehearsals in the training room; Two new roles in the show dedicated to welfare support – a celebrity welfare producer and a professional dancer welfare producer (both started work in August); Additional training for professional dancers, production team and crew.