Josh Widdicombe says a fellow passenger “whacked” him in the back during an escalating argument over an airplane seat as the comedian returned to the United Kingdom from a family vacation in Greece.
The incoming Strictly Come Dancing host admitted that he started the disagreement by briefly placing his shoe on the corner of an empty seat while waiting to use the bathroom.
Widdicombe recounted the encounter on the Parenting Hell podcast, which he co-hosts with Rob Beckett.
He said the passenger continued cleaning the seat long after the initial exchange and left him worried that another confrontation might occur after landing.
Widdicombe Admitted He Made the First Mistake
The incident began near the front of the aircraft while Widdicombe was waiting in line for the toilet. One passenger was sitting in the window seat beside two temporarily empty chairs, so he perched on the armrest nearest the aisle.
Widdicombe noticed that his shoe was untied and placed his foot on the corner of one of the seats. “Fine, I made a mistake,” he recalled, according to The Independent.
The woman beside the seat told him it belonged to her husband. Widdicombe said he lowered his foot and apologized, but she continued telling him off after he had turned back toward the bathroom queue.
Her husband then emerged from the toilet. Widdicombe compared the man’s imposing appearance to Stranger Things actor David Harbour before describing the contact that followed.
He Said the Passenger ‘Whacked’ Him in the Back
“He whacks me in the back as he goes past me,” Widdicombe said. He later compared the movement to a football player barging an opponent away from the ball. The passenger then asked whether Widdicombe had placed his foot on the seat and began gathering napkins to wipe it down. Widdicombe repeated that he had apologized and could not do anything further to correct the mistake.
A flight attendant checked on the passenger before returning to Widdicombe and reportedly remarking, “There’s one on every flight, isn’t there?” Widdicombe responded by becoming deliberately friendly with the crew while the couple could see him laughing with them. The timing became even more awkward when another traveler approached Widdicombe and identified herself as a fan. “This is glorious,” he remembered thinking as the exchange unfolded within sight of the passengers involved in the dispute.
Widdicombe said the woman continued staring at him when he later walked down the aisle. About an hour after the argument, he overheard crew members saying that her husband was still cleaning the seat with a napkin. He suggested the passenger might have been particularly concerned about germs but said the intensity and duration of the reaction felt “so weird.”
Widdicombe Worried the Dispute Would Continue After Landing
Although there was no further physical contact during the flight, Widdicombe said he became concerned that the passenger might confront him once the aircraft landed. He said the man and his wife hurried off the plane as soon as the doors opened, bringing the encounter to an end.
The story comes before Widdicombe begins presenting Strictly Come Dancing alongside Emma Willis and former professional dancer Johannes Radebe. The BBC announced the trio in May after longtime hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepped down.
Willis will anchor the live competition, Widdicombe will oversee the upstairs interviews previously handled by Winkleman, and Radebe will work around the ballroom as a roving presenter when the new season begins in September.