It has been a rollercoaster week for the BBC’s biggest entertainment show, Strictly Come Dancing.
The TV competition, which celebrated its 20th anniversary with a BAFTA award last weekend for Best Entertainment Show, is reported to be examining “serious complaints” made against one of its highest-profile dance professionals, who has this week quit the show.
The Times of London quotes a city law film who has told UK media that the BBC is now “evidence gathering” after allegations made against Giovanni Pernice, who has been with the show for over a decade and won it in 2021 with his partner, deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis.
And The Sun newspaper reports that actress Amanda Abbington, who was partnered with Pernice last year but left the show after a few weeks citing medical reasons, is one of the complainants, along with two unnamed others.
Strictly Come Dancing is the BBC’s biggest entertainment show, and the original idea behind dozens of international versions, called Dancing With the Stars in most countries. It takes its name in the UK from a popular dancing show Come Dancing hosted by the BBC that ran for several decades until the 1990s.
Abbington has made no secret of her distress. It was previously reported that she had requested the BBC share video footage of her rehearsal time with Pernice. The BBC has stood by its star dancer – he has recently made two travel series for the broadcaster with fellow Strictly pro Anton du Beke – but his name is not currently attached to the 2024 series.
Neither the BBC nor Pernice were available for comment to The Times.