Strictly Come Dancing viewers were left in shock after professional dancer Neil Jones made a faux pas live on air.
Despite being on the show since 2016, Neil, 41, had become known for being one of the very few professional dancers to never be given a celebrity partner, so when the launch show on Saturday night revealed he was paired with 80s legend Toyah Wilcox, the star did little to hide his joy.
Talking to the pair on the sofa, Claudia joked that Neil had his own line of merchandise, before the cameras cut to a picture of Neil’s 11-month old daughter Havana wearing a baby grow with the words: ‘My daddy FINALLY has a partner’.
As the studio screamed and whooped, Neil fist pumped the air and repeatedly screamed ‘Finally!’
However some viewers were left confused by the outburst and took to X to quickly remind Neil that he had been paired up before and they hadn’t forgotten about it, despite him seeming to.
Taking to X one wrote: ‘”Daddy finally has a partner” Erm did you forget about this queen?!’ before posting an image of him with sports pundit Alex Scott, 39, who he reached the quarter finals with in 2019.
Another viewer posted a pictured of Neil with actress Nina Wadia, 54, who he was paired with two years later and captioned it: ‘Let’s not forget Ninia Wadia who was majorly robbed by being eliminated first.’
However others were quick to come to the professional dancer’s defence explaining that the whole thing was a joke because the pairing had been a long time coming.
‘Because it has been a couple of years not because he never had one…it’ll be because it’s been a long while…it’s been a while…he hasn’t had a partner in years, it’s kind of a long standing joke. Wasn’t saying he never had a partner.’
As the show went on, when asked by Claudia what it felt like to be paired up with Neil, Toyah replied: ‘I met Neil and I was in heaven. All of you are beautiful boys but not as beautiful as Neil.’
Toya also made a promise that she would be ‘the first pensioner to abseil through the studio.’
Earlier this year the Latin dancer, revealed in an exclusive interview with MailOnline that not being at the forefront of Strictly meant that he was able to see his baby daughter Havana’s birth.
The TV personality and Love Island star Chyna Mills, 24, welcomed their first child together in October 2023 after first going public with their romance in August 2022.
At the time Neil told MailOnline: ‘I say to [show bosses] every year when I have a partner or I don’t have a partner. That doesn’t bother me.
‘I would say, do what you need to do, if you find the right partner for me, I’m there for you.
‘But don’t feel that you have to give me a celeb partner, that’s not a priority. I enjoy it when I get that chance at Christmas.
‘This year everything happened in the right way because if I had a partner, I wouldn’t have been there for the birth of my daughter.
‘So I’m always so appreciative towards Strictly for being on this big show and I trust them and respect them.’
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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)
