AJ Pritchard, 24, was caught out by his Strictly Come Dancing The Professionals tour co-star Neil Jones, 37, after he spotted him appearing to smuggle chocolate bars while they travelled to their next show. Neil, who is married to Katya Jones, 30, filmed the cheeky moment on his Instagram Story in view of his 165,000 followers as he asked the star: “AJ, I thought you were on a no sugar diet?” The choreographer then proceeded to zoom in on a pile of treats assembled in front of the dancer’s seat on the tour bus. AJ adamantly replied: “Yeah I’m cutting out sugar.”
Neil quizzically responded in reference to the sweets: “So what’s all that about then?”
After AJ realised the star had noticed his secret stash, he grabbed a handful of the chocolate bars and stormed off to return them to the snack table.
Neil couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke fun at his pal, as he exclaimed: “You’re not very disciplined.”
The dance expert continued: “Wow, don’t try to hide the fact that you’ve got a lot of sugar!”
Adding to the joke, Neil tagged his friend as he captioned the clip: “@aj11ace sweet tooth.”
Fortunately, AJ saw the funny side of his fellow dancer’s post as he shared the clip on his own Instagram Story with his 358,000 followers alongside a crying laughing emoji and a see-no-evil monkey emoji.
Yesterday, AJ revealed more of his antics on tour with fans as he filmed himself hiding away from the other Strictly professionals under a chair on the bus.
Revealing the secret spot to his followers, he explained: “Found my comfy place which is actually hidden under the seats on the table on the coach.
“My happy place… found a comfy spot and now we’ve stopped.”
The mischievous Strictly semi-finalist then giggled with glee as a member of the team noticed him trying to get out from underneath the seat.
Elsewhere, AJ’s former dance partner Lauren Steadman, 26, told her 84,900 followers she had reunited with the star while supporting him at one of his tour performances.
The Paralympian uploaded a series of videos showing the Strictly dancers impressing crowds with their complicated ballroom and latin routines.
She captioned one clip: “Eeek. Very excited to watch these guys tonight. @karencliftonofficial @aj11ace @mrskatjones @mrnjonesofficial @pashakovalev @gorkamarquez @pernicegiovanni @nadiyabychkova @diannebuswell @otimabuse.”
Lauren later focussed her attentions on AJ as he spoke to the audience on stage.
The former contestant filmed the speech and added the caption “champ.”
AJ previously told The Mirror he had become “very protective” of Lauren during their time on last year’s series of the BBC programme.
He divulged: “There are different things that she will talk about in training that she would never talk about on camera, it’s for that reason that we have grown so close together and we will be friends for life.”