Amanda Abbington has spoken more about her experiences on Strictly Come Dancing, as the BBC continues its investigation into the long-running reality show.
In May 2024, the Sherlock star was among the former contestants who made an official complaint to the BBC about Strictly, having competed on last year’s series alongside former professional dancer Giovanni Pernice.
Giovanni – who will not be returning to Strictly in 2024 – has always refuted the accusations made about his conduct behind the scenes.
On Wednesday evening, Amanda sat down for a lengthy interview with her former Strictly competitor Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News.
During the interview, Amanda claimed that several of Giovanni’s former celebrity partners had contacted her on the day it was announced she’d be dancing with him, to share their commiserations.
She also repeated her previous allegation that Giovanni is “blocking” her from accessing around 50 hours’ worth of footage recorded during their rehearsals.
Asked what said footage would consist of, Amanda said: “It’s bullying and it’s aggressive behaviour. There were other things that were very upsetting, that you manage in the room at the time, because you’re a woman, and you have to manage those things because otherwise, what do you do?”
“I heard, not from you, from somebody else, about an instance of, I suppose you’d call it humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature,” Krishnan then said. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the many things,” Amanda then responded.
Krishnan also specified the alleged incident in question was “not harassment, but humiliation”.
Responding to Amanda’s latest claims, Giovanni’s team said: “We are cooperating fully with the BBC’s review process. All parties have been asked to respect this process and to not speak to the media before it concludes. We will continue to respect the integrity of the investigation and believe it is the right forum for all the evidence to be reviewed.
“As part of the evidence-led review, the BBC has shared the allegations they have been able to substantiate with us. They do not resemble Amanda’s latest allegations, given to Channel 4, in any shape or form.
“Giovanni refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour, and having provided the BBC with his evidence, is confident that the review will prove this.”
The BBC also issued its own statement, which read: “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.”
Earlier this week, the BBC’s director general apologised to any celebrity whose experience on Strictly Come Dancing wasn’t “wholly positive”.
The show has also announced new measures being implemented ahead of this year’s series, intended to “strengthen welfare and support” behind the scenes.
