Katya Jones tearfully takes blame for her and Lewis Cope exiting Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing pro Katya Jones has blamed herself after she and Emmerdale star Lewis Cope made a shock exit from the BBC show at the weekend.
Katya Jones has tearfully blamed herself for her and Lewis Cope's Strictly Come Dancing exit.
The 36-year-old dancer and the former Emmerdale star were surprisingly eliminated from the BBC Latin and Ballroom competition at the weekend and Katya became emotional as she expressed her regret about their Musicals Week departure from the programme.
Speaking on spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday (08.12.25), she said: "Looking back, I can't help but think maybe I could have done things differently to make it work for him better.
"But he could only do what I asked him to do, and whatever I've asked you to do, you didn't just do this time, (you did it) every single day.
"We were in a tough position I feel, we were expected to deliver these almost perfect, show stopping routines every single Saturday, which you did. I don't know how. It is tough, but also, I'm really, really proud. We grafted."
However, Lewis - who was eliminated after he and Katya lost the dreaded dance-off to Love Island star Amber Davies and her partner Nikita Kuzmin - was quick to comfort the dancer.
The 30-year-old star said: "You did everything perfect."
Cope added that he had found his Strictly Come Dancing experience to be "rewarding" and "heartwarming".
He said: "It's not really about dancing or anything. You (gesturing to Katya) have made me fall in love with dance, but you've also made me fall in love with life again, so thank you."
Katya stressed that she "wouldn't do anything differently" about her time performing with Lewis on the show.
The Russian dancer said: "I wouldn't do anything differently. We stayed true to ourselves with each number. A lot of my life I was told, 'Less Katya, less. Stop.' But finally, I just needed the right dance partner to match that. We did say we're such a good team."
Lewis added that the pair were trying to take the "positives" from their time on Strictly despite the pain of their quarter-final exit.
He said: "We're just trying to focus on the positives. It's been an amazing 11 weeks. Of course, it hurts. It'll take a bit of time to get over but I'm really proud of what we've done."
