Strictly Come Dancing pro Janette Manrara has claimed the public "overreacted" to the 2018 kiss scandal surrounding Katya Jones and Seann Walsh. The former partners were photographed kissing during a night out, with Katya later apologising for her actions, saying that it was "a one-off mistake". But now Janette has claimed there is a "double standard" surrounding the incident.
Appearing on the Jeremy Vine Show on Thursday, she said: "It is in my opinion a bit of a double standard though. Men and women both make mistakes all the time, and there’s no right or wrong in that opinion. You can say, 'That was OK', 'That was OK', 'This was wrong', 'That was not wrong'. But when it came to that specific situation, it was just so highlighted because they were both on the biggest show in the country!"
Seann and Katya were pictured kissing in 2018
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She later added that had it been "any other couple" – both Katya and Seann were in relationships at the time – they would not have received such a strong reaction from the public. She added: "If that had been any other couple going through something in the corner of the street, it’d be like, 'Oh look at those two.' But because they’re part of this huge machine it just got overboard with the attention."
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While Katya and her husband Neil Jones survived the scandal, they recently announced their separation. But Janette has insisted people not focus on the so-called 'Strictly curse' and instead on the couples that have gone the distance. The 35-year-old said: "There’s lots of couples that have come of out of Strictly that have really thrived and had beautiful relationships. So in my opinion it’s so much better to focus on the couples having happy relationships and doing well, versus: 'Ooh, who’s going to cheat.'"
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