Why I fear there is a troubling code of silence among Strictly stars over Wynne's vile 'spit-roast' slur

Wynne Evans was dramatically axed from the Strictly live tour last night after being caught making a sick sexual comment about one of the show's female hosts.

Evans, 53, was due to perform on Tuesday at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, but issued a statement hours before he was expected on stage.

The opera singer, who found fame in the Go Compare TV ads, had already been replaced in his BBC Wales radio show.

He said: 'I've agreed with the BBC that l'll take some time out from my radio show and the Strictly Live tour, as well as my other public commitments, to prioritise my wellbeing.'

'I am deeply sorry for the pain my inappropriate actions have caused, and plan to take this time for self-reflection.

'Apologies to those I won't get to see at the remaining performances, and I'm grateful to my fellow tour gang for all the amazing support they have given me.'

Disgraced Evans had been allowed to continue on the Strictly live tour, despite calls for him to step down, after I revealed in The Mail on Sunday that I had heard the Strictly star use the vile term 'spit-roast' at the launch of this year's circuit.

He used the sordid term, which refers to three-way sex, about his BBC colleague Janette Manrara. It's about as crude and offensive a suggestion as you can make.

Evans was surrounded by their co-stars when he made the comment, with Janette standing just an arm's length away.

There could be no doubt about what he'd said. I was outraged. Evans was 20 yards from where I was standing, but I heard his words quite clearly. And they sent shockwaves through me.

I'm not the only one, of course. Following the widespread revulsion caused by the revelations in my Mail on Sunday story, he was replaced on his morning radio show on Monday by comedian Robin Morgan, who also stood in for Evans while he appeared on Strictly last year.

However, last night he still appeared in the new travel series Wynne & Joanna: All At Sea alongside Gavin & Stacey actress Joanna Page, on BBC One.

Despite its primetime slot, it failed to make the top 20 watched shows that day, attracting just 1.1million viewers.

So what about his fellow professionals? Aren't they angry, too?

From them, there has been silence, however – or, worse, we have been treated to full-throated expressions of support for a man who has clearly never heard of #MeToo.

Nor have we had any words of condemnation from the BBC – an organisation supposedly dedicated to the preservation of wholesome values.

We don't even know whether Evans stepped back from the tour voluntarily or was ordered to by the BBC – because it won't say.

Bosses had previously told the Mail: 'We have made it very clear to Wynne that we do not tolerate such behaviour on the tour.'

As for 41-year-old Janette, the chief victim in all this, I expected expressions of hurt, perhaps, anger or even distress. But no. And in those brief moments after Evans's crass comment the attitudes on view were telling.

Certainly, there were looks of concern from her fellow dancers as his words rang around the largely empty auditorium.

Actor Jamie Borthwick, 30 – to whom the comment was made, and who had been laughing at Evans's jokes – jerked his head back with a semi-grimace.

But in the next beat, a member of the camera crew shouted: 'And smiles!'

Sequinned chests were puffed out, gleaming teeth were bared. All appeared to be quickly forgotten and Evans's offensive, sexist comment with all its repercussions had been lost amid the flashes of the cameras trained upon them. The show must go on.

I can reveal that, while Janette and the rest of the troupe have remained unsettlingly silent, having failed to address the issue publicly, Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas has leaped to Evans's defence.

Speaking to the Strictly audience at the Glasgow Hydro show on Sunday, she showered him with compliments: 'I tell you, Wynne has got the nicest cuddles,' she announced. 'C'mon Wynne let's have a snuggle-bunny cuddle. I just love you so much. He is the nicest man I think I've ever met in my entire life.'

Katya, 35, Evans's dance partner in the last Strictly series, has also come to his aid, with a social media video showing the singer at the piano, entertaining the Strictly gang in the lobby of their five-star hotel in Glasgow.

Following Evans' announcement, Katya said she'll 'miss her darling boy' as she prepares to continue the tour without him.

She wrote on Instagram: 'Let's show humanity and consideration. I will miss you my darling boy.' 

The message was clear: She is backing Evans. Why, you might ask, are Janette, Shirley and Katya – three plain-speaking, no-nonsense professionals – refusing to condemn their co-star for his boorish and unacceptable behaviour? The answer, I'm afraid, is troubling.

One show insider told me: 'They [the dancers] know Strictly is bigger than them and want to protect Strictly. 'It is their livelihoods.

'And it's not exactly good news for them when this stuff comes out – so it's better to keep it happy and clappy.

'There's also a sense of loyalty because of all the show has done for them. It's easier to push on.' 

Certainly, it came as no surprise on Saturday when an email from Janette's (female) representative arrived with a short statement claiming she was 'unaware' of any sordid comments.

What, then, of the reaction from Janette's husband, Strictly dancer Aljaž Škorjanec, who immediately turned to her in the aftermath to ask if she was OK?

I am certainly not calling Janette a liar. She is entitled to tell her side of the story in the way she chooses, and I have no reason to doubt she did not hear the remark, as her representative claims.

Yet I caught the episode on my camera phone. And, for me, there's only explanation as to why these strong, talented women seem to be protecting a man who has embarrassed and demeaned a female colleague in her place of work.

Could there be some sort of sinister code of silence – a kind of omerta – among the dancers? And is it one that is laid down by the BBC itself?

In the end it was left to Lorraine Kelly to speak out against Evans on her ITV morning show, describing it as 'really not on'.

'Do better, mate,' she said. And quite right, too.

Just four months ago, Katya was at the centre of another Evans-related episode, dubbed 'Grope-gate', when she pushed his hand away – a hand snaking around her stomach – during the live Strictly Come Dancing broadcast.

But then, too, Katya defended her co-star, describing his wandering hand as a 'silly joke'.

So far, so familiar.

Katya, Janette and Shirley have not responded to the Mail's requests for comment.

That episode nearly cost both Jones and Evans their places on Strictly – and the 'spit-roast' saga seems rather more serious.

But from the dancers and the BBC itself, however, I'm expecting nothing more than silence.

That's the way they appear to like it, after all.