Seann Walsh affair: what happened with Katya Jones on Strictly, did they share kiss, who was his girlfriend?

Seann Walsh is the latest contestant to be added to the I’m A Celeb lineup. The 36-year-old comedian entered the jungle Down Under alongside former health secretary Matt Hancock.

Walsh, who has previously taken part in Strictly Come Dancing and was caught up in a kissing scandal with his professional dancing partner Katya Jones, has stayed out of the limelight in recent years.

According to The Sun, the incident has negatively impacted his career and prevented him from getting work.

The comedian has revealed that it was his current partner, Grace Adderley, who convinced him to join I’m A Celeb saying: “People have voiced their feelings about me and I am hoping they will see I am very different.”

So, who is Seann Walsh, when will he be entering the jungle and what happened on Strictly? Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Seann Walsh?

Sean Christopher Walsh, known as Seann Walsh professionally is an English comedian and actor. The 36-year-old was born in Camden, London in 1985, but grew up in Brighton.

Walsh performed his first comedy gig in November 2006 and would go on to win the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year in 2009 and Chortle Best Newcomer. He performed his comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in both 2012 and 2013, where it was widely well-received. The comedian also had stints as a warm-up comedian for QI and toured with Josh Widecombe.

In 2018, whilst on Strictly Come Dancing, he was caught up in a kissing scandal with professional dance instructor Katya Jones. Both were in relationships at the time and made public apologies.

Walsh is now in a relationship with Grace Adderley, who he has been dating since 2019, the pair announced they are expecting their first child in October 2022.

When did he enter the I’m a Celebrity jungle?

Walsh entered the I’m a Celebrity jungle alongside former health secretary Matt Hancock on Wednesday 9 November.

Reported in Hello, he made the decision to join the show after being convinced by Adderley. He said: “Grace is the main reason why I am doing I’m A Celebrity.

“As you can imagine I was very scared after the last time I was on a big show because the fallout was not something you would want to go back to. Grace talked me into doing it. She convinced me it was the wrong attitude to have not doing it because I feared what people would think, but to do it because I would have a wonderful time.”

What happened to Seann Walsh on Strictly?

Walsh made headlines in 2018 after he was photographed kissing his Strictly Come Dancing professional dance partner, Katya Jones. The pair were both in relationships at the time, with Walsh’s girlfriend releasing a statement on Twitter stating that the comedian had called her a “psycho” for questioning his close relationship with Jones and sharing that the kiss had happened on her birthday.

Jones, who was married to professional dancer Neil Jones at the time, gave a public apology on BBC’s It Takes Two. She said: “I can’t apologise enough to everyone who it hurt and involved. But, the main thing, me and Neil are absolutely fine and that’s what matters to me the most right now and focusing on my job and doing it as professionally as I can.”

According to The Sun, the incident has negatively impacted his career, preventing him from getting work and leading to financial trouble. A source told the publication: “Seann’s had a really tough time of it since his last appearance on reality TV.”

What has Seann Walsh said about the kissing scandal?

Walsh opened about his regret over the kiss during an interview on Amazon Prime’s Backstage with Katherine Ryan, describing the incident as “horrific”.

He said: “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”, adding: “It was horrific.”

“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.”

Reflecting on his time on Strictly he said: “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. 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.”

Has Seann Walsh spoken about it on I’m a Celebrity 2022?

Just days in to jungle life, Walsh opened up about the impact the kiss had on his life and others involved to Corrie’s Sue Cleaver.

He said: “Me and my dance partner, who was married, I was in a relationship, we were photographed kissing when we were on Strictly Come Dancing… that was the front page of every newspaper.”

Walsh explained he apologised on The Jonathan Ross Show at the time, adding: “That will forever be the weirdest moment of my life and I have to say probably the worst moment of my life.”

He went away from the main camp and said to the camera “that's something in my life that I don't want to go back to”. He said: “Obviously I knew it would come up. They come up so naturally here. I just want to move on.

“It's really nice to have people that will listen and are so lovely and wonderful. I just want to be clear in that I'm very sorry about what happened and I really want this to be a positive experience and it really has been. I want to come out of here and move forward.”