Shirley Ballas says she will judge Seann Walsh and Katya Jones "without fear or favour" on this weekend's 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Shirley Ballas
The 58-year-old panellist remained coy when asked about the pair's well-documented controversial recent kiss after a night out, which occurred despite Seann having a girlfriend of five years, Rebecca Humphries - who has since dumped him - and Katya being married to fellow pro dancer Neil Jones, but Shirley insists such incidents go on "in every industry".
She said: "I shall go out on Saturday with everybody enjoying the show, and be ready to see the dancing, judging without fear or favour.
"I think things happen all the time in every industry. I just feel 'Strictly' or 'Dancing on Ice' or any show that is on TV is in the public eye and seems to get a little more attention.
"I don't necessarily just think it's because of 'Strictly'."
Shirley says she will not be judging Seann and Katya's private life when she scores their Charleston routine on the weekend.
Speaking on 'This Morning', she added: "I think people get on with their job. I'm there to judge a competition which is about dancing. I'm not there to judge anybody's private life. Everybody comes and they do their best, so that's what everybody will be looking forward to on Saturday.
"I'm there as an adjudicator to judge the dancing only. They're going to dance on Saturday, and I shall be judging the dancing.
"I'm sure the country is ready ... we had a fantastic week last week and this week will be just as good I'm sure."
Following incident last week, Seann's girlfriend took to Twitter to reveal she had dumped him, taken their cat, and claimed he had called her "a psycho" and "mental" for suggesting "something inappropriate was going on" between him and Katya.
She wrote: "Those pictures were taken on October 3rd. It was my birthday. I was alone at home when Sean texted at 10pm saying the two of them were going for one innocent drink. We spoke and I told him, not for the first time, that his actions over the past three weeks had led me to believe something inappropriate was going on. He aggressively, and repeatedly called me a psycho / nuts / mental. As he has done countless times throughout our relationship when I've questioned his inappropriate, hurtful behaviour. (sic)"
Seann and Katya have publicly apologised for their kiss, writing the incident off as a "one-off mistake".
Katya wrote on Twitter: "I'm so sorry about any offence or hurt I may have caused with my actions. I wasn't thinking and it was a one-off mistake after some drinks. I love my husband and we are very happy together, this is not a reflection on our relationship. (sic)"
Seann tweeted: "In light of the story in today's newspaper I would like to offer my sincere apologies for my actions. This is no excuse but it was a one-off drunken mistake which I am truly sorry for. (sic)"