Peter Andre has weighed in with his take on the Strictly Come Dancing “misconduct” saga, but a video he recorded to air his views has sparked outrage from a number of fans who’ve argued: “This is why people don’t speak up.”
Andre, 51, took part in the 2015 series of the beloved BBC show alongside Janette Manrara and decided to share his thoughts in defence of the professional dancers amid ongoing backlash.
Manrara has found her name dragged into conversations surrounding safeguarding measures on the show following comments made by 2019 partner and Paralympian Will Bayley.
Posting in view of his 1.9million followers, the Mysterious Girl singer captioned the clip: “My thoughts on @bbcstrictly @jmanrara @aljazskorjanec @giovannipernice @mrantondubeke.
“Although i don’t know what happens in everybody’s training room I can only speak about what I saw and experienced. It is however important that people speak up if they feel that something was wrong and important that they are heard.
“When Janette and others got dragged into it too, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is going too far before any investigation.” (sic)
Facing the camera in the clip, he shared: “Do you know what? I do feel as someone that was on Strictly that I should just stick up for some of these people because I was there.
“And I know it was only one series that I was on, but you know, people like Janette Manrara who are the nicest, most beautiful people, and they’re getting dragged into things like this.
“Of course, if someone did something bad and someone hurt somebody, you know, I can understand that… that’s not acceptable.”
“But because I was there and people like Giovanni [Pernice] who was always a gentleman to me… Anton [Du Beke], they were lovely to me – and not just me by the way, I saw them with people. And I think when Janette’s name got dragged in too, I’m like… Come on guys.
Peter Andre and Janette Manrara danced together in the 2015 series of Strictly Come Dancing
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“She’s beautiful. And Aljaz [Skorjanec]… I don’t know… I just think if there’s misconduct then they have to find out but I just think they’re dragging everyone’s name in and I just don’t think it’s fair.
“That’s just my personal opinion, I think that some of them just need to be cut a break,” he concluded, ending the video.
His narrative didn’t go down well with some of his fans though, and plenty of them rushed to the comments to complain the singer shouldn’t make an argument based on his experience alone.
Manrara, who starred on the show as a professional dancer until quitting to host it’s spin-off programme, It Takes Two, in 2021, welcomed his view by commenting: “Love you so much @peterandre,” alongside a heart emoji.
However, several comments were disapproving of his words, with one person noting: “Come on Pete don’t invalidate someone else’s experience by your nice experience! This is why people don’t speak up about their experiences.
“Not everyone has the same experiences. Let those who are investigating do their job. It’s good they are your friends but that doesn’t make them nice to everyone.”
Janette Manrara was among the professional Strictly Come Dancing stars to come under fire
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“I’m sorry but this…. this is exactly why women don’t come out and disclose what has happened to them. Fear of not being believed, belittled and other men saying ‘they were always such a gentleman, there a good guy’, yeah they were to you and that doesn’t stop them from not being different to someone else,” a second shared.
Another fumed: “It’s great that Giovanni was nice to you, or seems polite but we also need to believe women when they speak out about behaviour that makes them uncomfortable.”
“Ah this is not a good look. Nice that you had experience but that does not erase someone else negative experience, especially saying the person was always a good guy to you…” someone else penned.
However, some did side with Andre’s point of view, with one follower arguing: “Well said Peter, about time someone spoke out in a positive way.”
And another weighed in: “As a former contestant, it is good you are putting your views across and supporting @jmanrara. Cannot believe she is being dragged into this as she seems like such a lovely person” (sic)