Seann Walsh and Katya Jones were “kindly” marked by Strictly Come Dancing’s judges on Saturday night, according to Anton du Beke.

The pair made it through to next weekend despite being favourites to exit after their illicit kiss.

Du Beke, who is out of the competition after Susannah Constantine was first to be booted off the BBC One show, said Walsh and Jones received higher scores than he would have given them.

Anton Du Beke
Anton du Beke spoke out on This Morning (Ian West/PA)

Du Beke told ITV show This Morning: “I thought they were … kindly marked on the night … (receiving) higher marks than I would have thought the dance deserved.

“It did have a great performance value, a great quality of performance … But I thought technically it wasn’t brilliant … and that’s just my opinion.”

Asked if he thought the pair survived because they were over-marked, he said: “No, definitely not.”

Walsh and Jones will be dancing a quickstep next weekend, once again avoiding a romantic number.

Walsh was publicly dumped by his girlfriend, who accused the comic of calling her “psycho/nuts/mental” when she suspected something was going on between the star and Jones, who is married to professional dancer Neil Jones.