Wynne Evans' Welsh lesson for Strictly partner leaves Katya lost for words

Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans, arguably best known for his entertaining GoCompare ads, wowed the judges tonight and came fifth place overall in the leader board after his first Strictly Come Dancing 2024 performance. But there were also some great nods to Wales in his segment of the show.

Wynne who was set to perform last, but certainly not least and danced the samba to Help Yourself by Tom Jones. Speaking about his upcoming performance in a pre-recorded clip, Wynne noted: "My first dance is going to be a samba. Put that to one side. I'm dancing to Tom Jones. Like Tom Jones."

But his first reference to Wales came at the beginning of the show when he tried to give a mini Welsh lesson to his dance partner Katya Jones. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter

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Katya said, as she spoke about Wynne developing his dance skills; "It's so important just to have fun, to learn from each other." To which Wynne replied: "Can you say Shwmae?"

Katya repeated: "Shwmae", with a smile. And Wynne added: "Yeah, that's hello in Welsh." Katya paused momentarily, almost appearing lost for words before repeating; "Shwmae" and said: "See! This is it. Fun, fun fun."

Previously, when asked by Claudia how he was feeling about finding out who is professional dancer is, GoCompare singer Wynne said "I didn’t have a clue who I was going to get. Obviously, I’m older so I didn’t know who would take me on as it were, then we went to the venue and in walks the cockney Russian!"

Although Wynne said he had a "few little issues" in rehearsals as he got used to the routine, the performance overall seemed a resounding success, as even Craig Revel Horwood was impressed, noting that this "actually did put a smile" on his face.