Seann Walsh hates 'Strictly No Parking' signs following kiss scandal

Seann Walsh has opened up about still feeling haunted by the word 'strictly', six years on from the Katya Jones kissing scandal that dominated headlines.

The comedian and Russian choreographer were paired up on Strictly Come Dancing at the time, but several weeks into their ballroom journey, a paparazzi photo emerged capturing them locking lips. Jones and her husband Neil Jones, who also performs as a professional dancer on Strictly, separated soon after, while Walsh's girlfriend of five years Rebecca Humphries dumped him.

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Appearing on the latest episode of Russell Howard's Wonderbox podcast, Walsh revealed how the event still follows him around today, even though he's since got together with partner Grace Adderley and became a father last year.

"I do not dance," he told the host. "What it is more actually is when you turn up to any car park or something, and it says, 'Strictly No Parking'. I still just go, 'Arghh', every time I see it. I can hear the word — like a dog hearing something — I can just hear the word strictly and I still go, 'Arghh!'"

In hindsight, Walsh now believes he returned to performing onstage as a stand-up comic way too early, as the public fallout from the scandal lasted much longer than anyone could've predicted.

"I went back too soon — that's for sure. You've got to kind of let audiences, or the public, almost let them get over it. But I wanted to kind of fight it," he explained to Howard, who himself has become of the country's finest funnymen.

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"I didn't want this thing that was happening to my life to take away the only thing that I had. I would have looked unwell. I was extremely thin and gaunt. It was so difficult. The audiences didn't know how to feel. They'd get up, they'd leave.

"Sometimes they'd tell me that they were appalled by me."

Watch: Rebecca Humphries on Seann Walsh split: 'Like a bizarre stress dream'