Giovanni Pernice has promoted an upcoming reunion with two of his former colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing, as the show continues to attract attention amid a scandal
Giovanni Pernice has promoted his upcoming reunion with two of his former colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing, as the show continues to attract attention amid a scandal.
The professional dancer, 33, isn’t expected to take part in the new series of the BBC show when it launches in the coming weeks.
Giovanni however is set to reunite Craig Revel Horwood, 59, and Motsi Mabuse, 43, next month.
The two judges are scheduled to provide respective classes through Giovanni’s dance company Ballando on September 29.
Craig’s set to teach the charleston style of dance, whilst Motsi is listed for a cha cha cha workshop. And Giovanni is himself due to teach a class on the jive that afternoon.
Shirley Ballas, 63, and Anton Du Beke, 58, – who are on Strictly’s judging panel alongside Craig and Motsi – have both already fronted classes for Ballando in recent weeks. Announcing that both Craig and Motsi would follow in their footsteps, Giovanni had previously teased: “Well … it wouldn’t be fair to only have two of the judges would it.”
Giovanni – who announced the latest classes just weeks ago – promoted the upcoming experience on Instagram on Thursday. He shared a post through the Ballando page on the platform, before reposting it on his Instagram Story. The post shared with fans this week read: “Is it you coming to learn from [Craig, Motsi and Giovanni]? We’ll be spending the afternoon swivelling, lock stepping and drunken sailor-ing as these pro’s put everyone through their paces!”
It continued about the upcoming classes at Ish Venue 1 in London: “Book one, two, or all three classes … You don’t have to have dance experience to come along – just a love of dance, and willingness to get stuck in and give it a go!” Strictly’s new series is expected to have begun by the date of the scheduled classes, with it believed that the launch show is set to be filmed in the first week of September. The long-running show is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.
It’s however facing controversy over claims about what it’s apparently been like behind-the-scenes. An apparent internal investigation is believed to be drawing to a close and the BBC recently announced “additional steps to strengthen welfare and support” moving forward.
The highly-publicised scandal includes actor Amanda Abbington, 50, having made allegations of “bullying” and “aggressive behaviour” against her former dance partner Giovanni, who she was paired up with on Strictly last year. He however has denied “abusive or threatening behaviour”.
This week, Amanda gave her debut performance in her latest acting role, the play When It Happens to You. As reported by the Mirror, Amanda “broke down in tears” when herself and co-stars received a standing ovation from the audience on the opening night on Wednesday. The production is playing at the Park Theatre in London.
Amanda is said to have “put on a brave face” as she took to the stage after a challenging few months. Speaking to the Mirror on the first night of the play, audience members are said to have praised her ‘strength’ and ‘willpower’.
The BBC said in a recent statement, issued following Amanda’s Channel 4 News interview last week: “Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on individuals. However, when issues are raised with us we always take them extremely seriously and have appropriate processes in place to manage this. As we have said before, we would urge people not to indulge in speculation.
“More generally, the BBC and BBC Studios takes duty of care extremely seriously. Our processes on Strictly Come Dancing are updated every year, they are kept under constant review and last week we announced additional steps to further strengthen welfare and support on the show.”
