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Privacy Notice Amanda Abbington has hit back at Giovanni Pernice following his latest interviews. The 34 year old Strictly Come Dancing star appeared on Lorraine this morning, where he addressed the actress’s “concerning” allegations for the first time since the BBC investigation’s findings were made public. Sherlock actress Amanda made allegations against the Italian dancer earlier this year, claiming she was subject to a “toxic environment” and “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying”. An investigation into the actress’s complaints about Giovanni followed, with the BBC upholding “some, but not all” of the complaints made against the professional dancer. There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, the PA news agency understands.
Giovanni made his first TV interview since the BBC investigation on Lorraine on Tuesday
(Image: ITV)
During the interview with Christine Lampard today, Giovanni, dressed in a navy suit, expressed confusion as to why Amanda complained about him, describing their relationship as “fine”. However, Amanda, who left Strictly last year citing medical reasons, has responded through her team, stating: “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.” The statement in The Sun continues: “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.
Amanda Abbington has hit back at Giovanni Pernice after he gave his first TV interview following the results of the BBC probe
(Image: BBC)
“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 shared with Christine Lampard why he chose today to break his silence, divulging: “It’s the right time to do so,” and revealing that both he and Amanda were requested to keep the matter under wraps during the investigation to maintain confidentiality and professionalism. Praising Amanda, Giovanni 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 went on to say that he thought they were “fine” and that Amanda had told him “Giovanni, you are an amazing teacher”. He said there had “never been sort of a difficulty of, ‘Please don’t say this to me.’” The dance pro continued: “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’.” Concluding, he said: “At that time everything was perfect, me and Amanda Abbington never had an argument.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnGiovanni PerniceLorraineStrictly Come DancingAmanda Abbington
