AMANDA Abbington has hit back at Giovanni Pernice after he returned to British television this morning and called their relationship “perfect”.
The actress, 50, lodged a series of complaints against the Italian professional and quit after just six weeks on the show amid claims of bullying in rehearsals.
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The BBC upheld six of the 17 complaints and apologised publicly to Amanda, though Giovanni was cleared of the more serious allegations.
Today he appeared on Lorraine and insisted that while his methods are strict, he wouldn’t change them.
He also called Amanda a “brilliant” dancer and said he’d like to have a cup of tea with her to iron out their issues.
But in an exclusive statement to The Sun, Amanda’s team said: “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.
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“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.”
Giovanni’s appearance on Lorraine comes as he competes in the Italian version of Strictly with actress Bianca Guaccero.
He has been consistently topping the leaderboard in his homeland and keeping his British fans updated on Instagram.
Today he told host Christine Lampard how he believed Amanda had what it took to win the Glitterball.
He said: “When you have somebody in your hands, like Amanda, she was brilliant and unbelievable at dancing.
“I’m upset because we could have made it all the way to the final. My job is to take everything out of my partner. It’s in the public domain, the fact I’m a strict teacher. If you want to achieve greatness, I think this is the right way to do.”
He denied ever clashing with the actress in the rehearsal room, despite her claims he made offensive comments towards her.
“The investigation didn’t find me a bully,” he said. “Bully is a big word, there’s a big difference between bullying and caring about what you do.
“All I had was ‘Giovanni you’re an amazing teacher, Giovanni you’re great’.”
He continued : “At that time everything was perfect, me and Amanda Abbington never had an argument.”
He reflected on his career successes, including lifting the Glitterball with Rose Ayling-Ellis and his current leaderboard-topping run on the Italian version of the show, to justify his methods.
He said: “Teaching the way I teach is the successful way to approach this.”
He added: “If you come to the room with me and go, ‘you really want to win this’, I will do everything in my power to win this.
“If you suddenly change this and don’t tell me that, there’s nothing I can do. I don’t read minds.
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“I’m very, very competitive. I will make sure I will do everything to get out the best of you.”
Giovanni refused to answer if he still has a future on Strictly, instead responding that he was busy with his work in Italy and his upcoming theatre tour.
He decided to quit Strictly in May after nine years on the BBC dancing show.
It came as he faced allegations over his training methods with his former celebrity partners, including Amanda.
The BBC published the findings of its five-month investigation into the alleged scandal, and Giovanni was cleared of 11 of the 17 allegations made against him.
It did, however, find instances of the professional dancer using “belittling” language towards her.
Strictly’s full scandal so far
Strictly Come Dancing’s scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what’s happened so far
16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.
17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.
16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.
8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.
10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.
13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.
Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”
15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.
16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.
19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.
21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.
22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.
22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.
23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.
23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.
23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.
“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”
24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.
27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.
She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.
28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.
10th August: Graziano breaks his silence on his Strictly axe, saying “these vile, false allegations have ruined my life.”
He also told of the “shocking” end to his friendship with Zara McDermott.
We also revealed that Amanda Abbington was also quizzed for a second time as Strictly execs recruited 15 new staff to monitor rehearsals.
11th August: Just as the investigation was expected to conclude, Amanda made a dramatic intervention. Giovanni was on the brink of being cleared until Amanda handed in more text messages.
24th August: Graziano Di Prima called in top lawyers to sue the BBC and to try to clear his name. He recruited big hitters Whitestone Chambers to fight his corner.
A source said: “They’ve also looked at his BBC contract and believe there are grounds to sue.”
Meanwhile, the BBC also delayed releasing the findings of the probe into Giovanni Pernice. The Sun revealed that the results of the three-month investigation were unlikely to be announced in August.