Strictly Come Dancing is meant to be enjoying its 20th anniversary victory lap, but there’s a dark shadow hanging over the latest edition of the competition.
Over the weekend, the judging panel dished out their verdicts on each famous contestant’s carefully choreographed routine, wielding their glittering scoring paddles to award points out of 10. Then on Monday, the BBC issued a Strictly judgement of a very different kind – one that may have lasting ramifications for the sparkling jewel in the broadcaster’s light entertainment crown. After weeks of heightened speculation, the corporation published the results of its probe into complaints levelled at professional dancer Giovanni Pernice by former contestant Amanda Abbington.
The Sherlock actor, who left last year’s competition after just a few weeks, had accused Pernice of bullying behaviour. Following months of investigation, which reportedly involved sifting through thousands of hours of behind-the-scenes footage, the BBC confirmed that they had upheld complaints relating to verbal bullying and harassment, but concluded that Pernice had not been physically aggressive. They also issued an apology to Abbington, and acknowledged that coming forward “would not have been an easy thing to do”; the actor said that she felt the verdict was a “vindication”, while Pernice’s spokesperson said he is “pleased” that the report “has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour” by him.
BBC bosses will surely be hoping that the release of the investigation’s results marks a natural conclusion to what has been a tumultuous chapter in the dance show’s history, a period that also saw another popular pro, Graziano Di Prima, depart under a cloud after separate allegations surfaced (he later admitted to having kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott during a rehearsal). But that seems like wishful thinking. For all the cheerful smiles and dazzling routines, Strictly’s summer of scandal is refusing to fade.
Although Pernice has been cleared of the most serious complaints against him, the acknowledgment of verbal bullying is an undeniable stain on Strictly’s reputation as the nicest show on TV. That image was never entirely spotless, what with all the chatter about the so-called “Strictly curse” that has claimed more than a few relationships, but compared to scandal-beset shows like Love Island, it felt like a show you could enjoy without getting too mired in the ethics of reality television. It was uplifting and big-hearted rather than cynical and potentially exploitative. Abbington’s allegations, and the subsequent investigation, have reminded us that the “reality” we see on screen isn’t always, well, real.
For a show that always felt authentic underneath all the larger-than-life sparkles, in a Dolly Parton “I may look fake but I’m real where it counts” sort of way, that fissure between appearance and actuality could prove damaging. Fans want to believe that the Strictly “journey” is as positive and life-affirming as we’d previously thought; perhaps some will be left feeling alienated by this acknowledgement that all was not well backstage. Indeed, the first live show of the season was reportedly watched by almost one million fewer viewers than last year, with 6.4 million tuning in, down from 7.3 million in 2023 (the BBC’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore suggested those figures didn’t tell the whole story, as “a lot of people watch Strictly over the course of a week, so it’s absolutely in line with the ratings of last year”).
So far, the show has not addressed any of behind-the-scenes turmoil while on air. That may have made sense during the opening episodes, before the investigation results were confirmed, but it’s no longer possible to distract from the (diamanté-embellished) elephant in the ballroom. Even if a to-camera speech feels a bit too reminiscent of Holly Willoughby’s “firstly, are you OK?” performance in the wake of This Morning’s scandal last year, there are other ways that Strictly could allude to what’s happened and prove that things are changing for the better.
In order to demonstrate that this is a new era of Strictly 2.0, perhaps they could show viewers some of the new safety protocols in place or let the much-discussed chaperones appear on camera during rehearsal footage. Whatever they decide, acknowledging the scandal feels imperative. Because they might find that, like the professional-grade fake tan beloved by Strictly participants, this particular mess will almost certainly leave a mark that can’t easily be scrubbed off.