Emma Barton, 42, seemed to have a great time at the Strictly Come Dancing 2019 launch last week and shared a series of snap’s from the event on her Instagram page. However, eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice the former EastEnders actress had cropped out one of her co-stars from the BBC programme in one of her posts. Emma was originally pictured stepping out onto the stage hand-in-hand with Dev Griffin, 34, in the photo, but the Radio 1 DJ was noticeably absent in her edited version of the snap. The star’s new image instead featured a zoomed in shot, showcasing her sparkly red dress.
Emma added the caption in view of her 8,861 followers: “Think I experienced one of the best days of my life yesterday…”
Dev on the other hand shared an un-edited version of the photo with his 53,000 followers and even complimented the brunette beauty on her outfit in his caption.
Commenting on his own shimmering suit, he wrote: “Serving them some deep aqua with an almost obscene amount of ankle at the @bbcstrictly launch.
“Also, can we talk about how [fire emojis] @theemmabarton looks!”
It wasn’t long before one of Dev’s pals and colleagues, DJ MistaJam pointed out Emma’s “harsh” crop in the comments section.
He jokingly wrote in response: “Love that you posted the whole photo while your friend posted a harsh crop,” alongside a crying with laughter emoji.
BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Seani B then cheekily replied to MistaJam: “Trust u… But it was harsh.”(sic)
Emma’s fans also took the opportunity to comment on the apparent snub in response to her photo.
One person wondered: “Where’s Dev gone?”
Another added: “@dev you got cropped out.”
“Gave Dev the chop,” a third fan pointed out.
Fortunately, in spite of the claims about the edited picture, Emma posted a follow-up snap with the entire celebrity line-up with Dev included.
Showing her love for her fellow Strictly stars, the soap star wrote: “My new family…,” with added love heart emojis.
Elsewhere, Emma previously said it would be “unfair” for her to take part in Strictly due to her experience in performing.
Ten years before signing up to the show, the Honey Mitchell star performed on the West End stage as Roxie in hit show Chicago.
During her time in the production, she was quizzed about the possibility of signing up to Strictly in the future.
She told the Birmingham Mail: “I might consider doing it, though after all this time dancing in Chicago, maybe it wouldn’t be fair. I would feel a bit like I shouldn’t take part because I have too much experience.”
Strictly Come Dancing 2019 launches tonight at 7.10pm on BBC One.