AMANDA Abbington has claimed she told producers on Strictly Come Dancing that she didn’t ‘feel safe’ during rehearsals with Giovanni Pernice.
The actress, 53, made a complaint about the teaching methods of her former dance partner months after withdrawing early from the 2023 series of the celebrity competition, citing medical issues.
Amanda, known for the popular shows Sherlock and Mr Selfridge, alleges that she was subject to “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying” and a “toxic environment” while on the BBC One programme.
Giovanni, who left his job as a Strictly professional before the upcoming season, rejects “any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour”, and believes he will be cleared by a BBC review.
Amanda told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour today there were “pockets of times” when she got along with Giovanni, before saying their relationship would return to “chaos”.
She said: “When you’re in a room, and you just feel ‘I don’t want to be spoken to like this, I don’t deserve to be spoken to like this, I’m trying my best. I’m working hard and for these things to be happening to me’.
“I recognise red flags and I recognise bad behaviour, because it’s happened to me in the past, and they were coming up more and more frequently.
“And I decided to just speak to the producers about it and say, ‘Look, I’m not comfortable. This is beginning to slightly get out of hand. And it’s a repeat pattern, it starts well, and then it starts to descend into chaos’.
“And I don’t think I deserve that because I’m coming into this room with a positive outlook and trying to do the best that I can and that’s not being reciprocated. I don’t feel happy or safe.”
The actress has previously claimed that producers installed cameras in the training studio, but did not act on her allegations.
She added that she was told this type of behaviour “happened before” and said: “I don’t think women should have to go through this, women should be allowed to stand up and go ‘This behaviour is affecting me. It’s not fair, please do something about it’. So everybody’s happy.”
Giovanni’s 2016 dance partner, former Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore, claimed that she was subjected to “inappropriate behaviour” during her stint on the programme, but did not name the pro.
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