Seann Walsh has finally expressed his regret over kissing Katya Jones during his time on Strictly while with his then-girlfriend, saying the repercussions of his actions were "horrific".
The comedian, 36, was pictured kissing the professional dancer, 33, who was married to Neil Jones at the time, in the street in the show's biggest ever scandal back in 2018.
After the kiss hit the headlines, Seann's girlfriend Rebecca Humphries released a statement on Twitter where she said she had been called a 'psycho' for questioning his close friendship with Katya.
“What you are thinking about is: ‘What have you done to someone?’ It’s one thing doing that privately and I don’t judge anyone, because everyone’s got their own backstory, lives or whatever", he says on the new Prime Video show Backstage With Katherine Ryan, set for release on June 9.
"It was horrific. It was crazy."
Seann says he can't watch Strictly to this day because "it just messes my head up".
"I have such amazing memories of being on that show and then the repercussions of that kiss, it was crazy. I’m just a comic," he says.
"I can’t go near anything Strictly, I can’t. It just messes my head up.
"One day I hope I can look back at that fondly, that first few weeks, because it was the best time of my life."
While Seann and Rebecca immediately ended their relationship, Katya and Neil remained together before announcing their split in August 2019.
It comes after Seann talked about the moment the Strictly scandal made front page news in Seann Walsh: Kiss | Full Comedy Special.
He said: "I left the wardrobe department and before I could order my first beer, my agent came over to and asked if he could have a word with me outside.
"I thought 'he is going to tell me I have got Michael McIntyre's Big Show! I had better act surprised!
"Turns out, I didn't have to act surprised. We went into the BBC carpark, my agent looked over his glasses and said 'about 20 minutes ago, they posted a photo of you kissing Katya outside a pub'.
"I was at that exact point that my life would turn upside down - the dream turned into a nightmare."
He earlier said on stage: "I was in a relationship, my dance partner Katya was married.
"After training we went for a drink, one thing lead to another and we were photographed kissing outside a pub.
"Awful, I know. It's awful - I'm sorry. I'm still sorry now.
I was then on the receiving end of thousands of abusive messages online. I did begin to wonder 'have I done something that wrong'?
"Then.... Katie Hopkins tweeted in my defence," he joked as the audience laughed.
"Then I thought 'yep, I've f****d up'!"
"Then Piers Morgan started defending me.... I had really f*****d up. At that point I was just waiting for Trump to invite me p***y grabbing!"
He added: "I managed to keep Brexit off the front pages for 12 whole days, but I hated it."
"I thought 'I just had to get out of here' and I left for America. Just the break I needed."
