Strictly Come Dancing's head judge has broken the panel's silence on the scandal surrounding contestant Seann Walsh and his dance partner Katya Jones.

Shirley Ballas said the experts are there to judge the dancing and not "anybody's private life".

Her comments come after pictures of the pair kissing on a night out were published by The Sun on Sunday – despite them both being in relationships at the time.

Walsh's now ex-girlfriend Rebecca Humphries responded by dumping him on Twitter, saying the pictures were taken on her birthday and that she had received no personal apology from the comedian.

In an interview with ITV's This Morning, Ballas tried to sidestep questions about the furore, but was called up on the "nice dodge" by presenter Phillip Schofield.

She said it was not down to the Strictly judges to comment on what happens outside the show, and that they were there to pass comment on "the dancing only".

After much speculation about whether the pair would quit or be kicked off the show, it was confirmed yesterday that they will dance on Saturday.

When asked about her reaction to seeing the pictures, Ballas said: "I'm not a newspaper reader, so I'm probably always the last to know any information that's going on, but I just think people get on with their job."

She continued: "I'm there to judge a competition which is about dancing, I'm not there to judge anybody's private life. And I just get out there, everybody comes, they do their best, so that's what everybody will be looking forward to on Saturday."

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