Katya and Neil Jones axed from Strictly tour after Seann Walsh cheating scandal – one week after he’s banned
STRICTLY Come Dancing's Katya and Neil Jones have been axed from the tour following Katya's kiss scandal with Seann Walsh - who was also banned from the production just one week ago.
Neil took to Instagram to share the news with fans, posting a photo of himself and his wife as he teased another "big announcement".
Sharing a snap of him and Katya, 29, pulling a funny face, the 35-year-old wrote: "Hi guys, so we won't be joining @strictlycomedancinglive but we will be joining the new Strictly pro tour in May and on top of that we have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! coming tomorrow, I can't wait for you all to find out."
The married couple's snub comes just one week after it was revealed that BBC bosses banned love rat Seann from Strictly's live tour in order to protect the show's family-friendly image.
The 32-year-old contestant was caught snogging his dance partner Katya after a boozy night out in October.
A show insider told The Sun: "The Strictly tour is a really wholesome, family-friendly event.
"It’s all about good, clean fun and we don’t think that a man who snogs married women in the street fits that image."
The incident also prompted a toxic atmosphere backstage at Strictly, but show bosses hoped that the ban will put that to bed.
A BBC source said: "Strictly has always been proud of its family-friendly image.
"Seann brought the show into disrepute with his behaviour."
Neil and Katya's announcement comes after fellow pro dancer Karen Clifton confirmed that she had signed up - after being axed from ex-husband Kevin Clifton's show following their split last year.
Karen said that she was "super excited" to be going on the tour, also revealing that she'll be partnered with former cricketer Graeme Swann.
The news is no doubt an additional blow to Karen's celebrity partner .
The pair were eliminated from the competition at the weekend - only just missing out on a place in this Saturday's semi-final.
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After a fan tweeted that the tour wouldn't be the same without him, Charles replied with a sad emoji face, a prayer emoji and a black heart.
It is not currently know why Charles will not be on the tour, or whether he'd been asked to join by producers.
As well as Graeme, the celebs taking part in the 2019 production are Dr Ranj Singh, Lauren Steadman, Stacey Dooley, Joe Sugg, Ashley Roberts, and Faye Tozer.
Meanwhile, Alijaz Skorjanec, Pasha Kovalev, Janette Manrara, AJ Pritchard, Dianne Buswell, and Giovanni Pernice will be joining Karen as the professional dancers.
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