Seann Walsh slams cruel trolls who target him over Strictly kiss five years on

02 October 2023 , 09:53

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Seann Walsh slams cruel trolls who target him over Strictly kiss five years on

Seann Walsh has hit back at trolls for bringing up his kiss with Katya Jones - which happened when they competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 - as he made a TV appearance on The Wheel.

The comedian's career was left in tatters after being caught on camera locking lips with the professional dancer, who at the time was married to Strictly pro, Neil Jones. Seann, 37, was also in a long-term relationship and admitted the subsequent trolling he received lead to "severe panic attacks" and a prescription for antidepressants.

However, he now says he's the happiest he's been for a long time and has just taken part in Michael McIntyre's game show, The Wheel. But, some cruel trolls couldn't help but bring up his past as he appeared on the BBC One gameshow over the weekend.

Seann Walsh has hit back at trolls after being slammed for kissing Katya Jones when they competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 (Getty Images)

Katya was married to Strictly pro Neil Jones and Seann was in a long-term relationship when they were caught on camera (PA)

Taking to Threads, Seann hit back at the cruel internet critics as he said: "I was on The Wheel on BBC One today. It's taken a long, long time but I feel generally quite happy nowadays. The enjoyment people seemed to take in how much they publicly shared their hatred for me had an incredibly negative impact on my life.

"I'm not sure I'll entirely recover from it but I'm definitely in a better place because when people are horrible to me online, I now laugh at it. It helps that people are mostly lovely towards me now so thank you so much x."

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Seann appeared on BBC's The Wheel (BBC/Hungry McBear/Gary Moyes)

After posting his thoughts, Seann was wished well by many of his followers, with one replying: "Ignore the haters. Anyone who dedicates their lives to making people laugh is okay by me!!" However, hours later, the comedian wrote: "Oh God, it was 2am when I posted this. Thanks for all your lovely messages, but how embarrassing."

The I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! star is now in a relationship with Grace Adderley, with whom he shares daughter, Wylda Primorse, seven months. However, four years ago, Seann's world fell apart when he was embroiled in a huge scandal when he was pictured snogging Katya in the street midway through BBC dance series, Strictly.

Katya and Seann both apologised for their actions, but were booted off the series a week later, with the comedian revealing how the public turned on him. Speaking about the fierce backlash in an episode of podcast Success Won't Come Calling, Seann said he tried to cope with the trolling by returning to stand-up, but that just 'made things worse'.

He said: "It’s like, you should be happy that I had a terrible time, just enjoy that and stop getting more angry at me." The continued barrage of online abuse drove Seann to leave Twitter, now X, as the father-of-one admitted the trolling led to severe panic attacks and him being prescribed antidepressants.

Speaking about his 'fall from grace', he concluded: "I was a very dream-like young man, I would dream of doing the Apollo, my sitcom, I was always living in this fantasy land. Then it was suddenly the first time I was living without hope."

Victoria Johns