Strictly star Giovanni Pernice has hit back at Amanda Abbington following her emotional Channel 4 interview amid the ongoing scandal.
Amanda sat down with Krishnan Guru-Murthy to discuss her experience on Strictly and with Giovanni. Her fiancé, Jonathan Goodwin, has since spoken out and hit back at claims that she’s “unstable”.
Amanda was on Channel 4 last night (Credit: Channel 4)
Strictly scandal
Speaking to fellow Strictly star Krishnan, Amanda opened up about the “bullying” she allegedly experienced at the hands of Giovanni.
During the interview, Krishnan raised the fact that he’d heard some of the alleged bullying was of a “sexual nature”.
“I heard, not from you, from somebody else, about an instance of, I suppose you’d call it humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature, is that right?” he said.
Growing tearful, Amanda confirmed that it was. “Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the many things,” she said.
Giovanni has hit back (Credit: BBC)
Giovanni Pernice statement
However, since Amanda’s interview last night, Giovanni has since hit back, denying the claims.
A spokesperson for the Italian dancer spoke to the MailOnline last night about the allegations.
“We would urge people to wait for the review’s conclusion and not to pay heed to these very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them,” they said.
Giovanni believes that his name will be cleared pending a review from the BBC
The BBC has said: “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.”
Amanda Abbington fiancé speaks out
Amanda’s fiancé Jonathan has since spoken to the MailOnline. He said: “If you watch the dances she did, tell me that’s a person that’s not putting in 100 per cent effort. So it’s not about that. What happened is she left a game show because she didn’t like the way she was being treated and that’s it. That’s what she did.”
He added: “How she was treated – and she’s said this herself – was not great in ways that I can’t go into. But it’s not about strict or militant training. It’s other stuff and I can’t talk about it, but it will all come up. The truth will come out.”
Jonathan then hit back at claims Amanda is “unstable” – something he said she’s been called.
He said: “Amanda is a strong person who is emotionally quite vulnerable. She’s been called all sorts of horrendous things – unstable and all this nonsense that is utterly untrue. She is the most level-headed person that I’ve ever met.”
The BGT star said Amanda is a “person that stands up for herself and for other people when she sees things that are not being dealt with correctly”.
