Amanda Abbington has hit back at Giovanni Pernice after he returned to British television on Tuesday morning after he was cleared of the majority of her bullying allegations in a BBC probe.
The former Come Dancing professional, 34, appeared on Lorraine to speak about the probe, days after he told the full story of what happened between him and Amanda to the Mail’s Katie Hind for the first time. Read the full interview here.
The BBC upheld six of the 17 complaints and apologised publicly to Amanda, though Giovanni was cleared of the more serious allegations.
Now Amanda’s team has shared a statement with The Sun, claiming the dancer is ‘gaslighting’ her and that she still has ‘concerns about the way the inquiry was handled by the BBC’.
It reads: ‘Mr Pernice’s claim that ‘everything in the rehearsal room worked perfectly’ is false and delusional, and underlines the toxic culture Ms Abbington endured on Strictly Come Dancing.
Amanda Abbington has hit back at Giovanni Pernice after he returned to British television on Tuesday morning after he was cleared of the majority of bullying allegations in a BBC probe
The former Come Dancing professional, 34, appeared on Lorraine to speak about the probe, after he told the full story of what happened between him and Amanda to the Mail’s Katie Hind. Read the interview here
‘The BBC’s own investigation concluded that Mr Pernice was in breach of multiple BBC Policies, including repeated breaches of the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy. Mr Pernice was spoken to by the BBC on several occasions about his misconduct – but his behaviour only continued.
‘At no time did Ms Abbington regard his verbal abuse or inappropriate behaviour as banter. This is precisely the kind of gaslighting behaviour which victims of bullying and harassment often have to endure: it’s these people Ms Abbington will continue to speak up for.
‘Ms Abbington remains concerned about the way the inquiry into her complaint was handled by the BBC, and the leaking of the investigation Report to the press, and will be meeting with the Corporation in due course to raise these in more detail.’
Returning to British TV, Giovanni admitted he would have a ‘nice cup of tea’ with the 50-year-old actress if he was in the same room with her now so that they could talk through things.
But he denied that the pair ever fought in the rehearsal room, claiming they ‘never had an argument’ and he was unaware she was uncomfortable until she made the allegations months later.
During his interview, Giovanni also hinted at the possibility of him returning to Strictly – after he left as a result of the probe.
When asked on Lorraine, which was hosted by Christine Lampard on Tuesday, if he would want to say sorry to Amanda if he was in a room with her now, Giovanni said: ‘I think we would have a nice cup of tea, we’ll have a chat and talk about what happened in that room.
‘It’s very difficult, because at that time everything was perfect.’
Now Amanda’s team shared a statement that said: ‘This is precisely the kind of gaslighting behaviour which victims of bullying and harassment often have to endure: it’s these people Ms Abbington will continue to speak up for’
It added: ‘Ms Abbington remains concerned about the way the inquiry into her complaint was handled by the BBC, and the leaking of the investigation Report to the press’
During his interview Giovanni assured he holds no ill will towards Amanda after being cleared of the majority of bullying allegations in a BBC probe on an appearance on Lorraine
Giovanni admitted he would have a ‘nice cup of tea’ with the 50-year-old actress (Pictured) if he was in the same room with her now so that they could talk through things
Giovanni added: ‘Me and Amanda never had an argument.
‘Yes, she does obviously say that she was deeply uncomfortable, and that was after six months, but why you didn’t come at that time.’
He continued: ‘You would come to me and say, “We’re not getting along”, then I probably will have a chat like every other relationship, we would have a chat and we talk it through and we try to make it better.
‘But realistically, me and Amanda we never had an argument. We always have discussion about steps. Yes, we did have meetings with the BBC, but we always come forward from there. I did have a meeting with the BBC with all my other partners.’
Despite being cleared of the majority of Amanda’s complaints and expressing it had been a difficult year, Giovanni went on to say that he supported Amanda speaking out if she thought something had happened, and said that anyone else should do so in that situation.
‘It’s good that Amanda came forward to talk about something she thought happened,’ he said.
‘It’s important if something, if you don’t feel right, it’s important that you talk to somebody. I’m not against the fact that the investigation started in the first place, because everybody, literally everybody, if they’ve got a problem, they should go and talk to someone in production in this case.
‘So I think she did the right thing. Yeah, and I’m glad that the investigation is finished and we got results.’
When asked on Lorraine, which was hosted by Christine Lampard on Tuesday, if he would want to say sorry to Amanda if he was in a room with her now, Giovanni said: ‘I think we would have a nice cup of tea’
During the interview, Giovanni also hinted at the possibility of him returning to Strictly – after he left as a result of the probe
Just days into Giovanni’s and Amanda’s Strictly journey last year, they were called in by bosses to be questioned about the foul language they were heard using with each other
At the end of the chat with Christine, Giovanni alluded to the fact that a return to Strictly was not completely off the cards.
He said: ‘I think at the moment I’m just having very focused on Dancing with the Stars Italy.
‘I’ve got a tour coming up in January, so will definitely come back in the UK from January to July, and then, who knows. Never say never.’
Speaking to Mail reporter Katie Hind over the weekend, Giovanni spoke about how he felt the relationship between him and Amanda was in the rehearsal room.
BBC bosses finally published their report into Giovanni’s behaviour on Monday, and it cleared him of the most serious allegations of physical aggression, but upheld verbal bullying and harassment.
Meanwhile, Giovanni said he was ‘pleased’ to be cleared of ‘threatening and abusive behaviour.’
The report also told how they had upheld six out of 17 allegations from Amanda. The report said that Giovanni – a perfectionist – ‘was swearing and using what could be described as belittling language’ which it said amounted to bullying behaviour.
The BBC apologised to the former Sherlock actress and also thanked her for coming forward to raise her grievances.
Within the report of the six-month long investigation which cost the licence fee payers upwards of £250,000, investigators found that the Italian dance star had used belittling language. On another occasion he said: ‘I’m tired of it, if you want to look s*** I don’t care.’
Amanda’s complaint that Giovanni would get frustrated with her while teaching her to dance was also upheld by the panel. However, it’s also been revealed that he told her: ‘You have such talent and you’re not using it.’
Another time he told her: ‘I don’t know how to ask you anymore,’ while another comment saw him tell her ‘it has been four days now and I don’t know what to do’, was also deemed to be wrongful behaviour.
In another outburst, Giovanni said ‘f*****’ while teaching her how to do a routine.
Amanda appeared in a television interview with Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy to claim that her bullying allegations against Giovanni were ‘of a sexual nature’
Giovanni is currently competing on Ballando Con Le Stelle’ (Dancing with the Stars Italy) alongside his celebrity contestant, actress and singer Bianca Guaccero
Meanwhile, the allegation that the Sicilian born ballroom star had also given negative feedback was upheld, one example of which was him throwing his arms in the air and saying ‘f***.’ As a result, Giovanni was told by the BBC that he didn’t adapt enough to Amanda’s needs.
Of the two complaints which were upheld of a sexual nature, one saw Giovanni grab his crotch and utter a lewd remark.
He also told his dance partner that he ‘wanted to f***’ her. That comment came after Amanda had pulled off a great move in the training studio and Giovanni was thrilled.
Despite many of Amanda’s serious allegations being thrown out by the BBC, they did say sorry to her. In a statement released on Monday, they said: ‘The BBC has now concluded its review into the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice.
‘We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part.
‘We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.’
In response, Amanda said: ‘As the BBC has indicated today in its statement, my decision to come forward and complain about Giovanni Pernice’s conduct towards me was not an easy thing to do.
‘In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I’ve been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being ‘mad and unstable.’