STRICTLY ex pro Vincent Simone has broken his silence on Graziano Di Prima “kicking” Zara McDermott in rehearsals.
The Italian dancer who appeared on the BBC dance show from 2006 until 2012, shared his horror at the incident – saying “I’ve never heard of such a physical act”.
It comes after Graziano, 30, was fired by the BBC following claims he hit, spat and kicked Zara during training.
Vincent, 45, told Rob Rinder and Charlotte Hawkins on Good Morning Britain: “I pray Graziano comes out, comes clean and be honest with the situation.”
Co-host Rob asked Vincent: “Can you think of any workplace scenario when you’re teaching somebody and you kick your student, you wouldn’t immediately be sacked and possibly prosecuted?”
Vincent replied: “We’ve been in this industry for over 30 years and I’ve never heard of such a physical act.
“I feel really sorry that this has happened and I pray Graziano comes out and comes clean and be honest with the situation.
“But personally I’ve never had any problems, my Strictly journey was amazing. The only problem I had was all my celebrities fell in love with me.”
TV presenter Rob was keen to know if some training techniques from different countries were being transported into Strictly.
He asked: “One of the things that interest, some of the way the male dancers are trained for example in Italy for instance. I understand it’s extremely strict to say the very least.
“When you’re a leading dancer and you’re training a young dancer that the female partner shouldn’t speak at all.
“I wonder the extent to which that given how competitive Strictly has become, has now been transported to this lovely show.”
Vincent laughed as he replied: “It’s not true at all, we respect women and I think women are the most beautiful thing and personally I am nothing without them.
“Strictly teachers we have them in Italy like we have them in Europe and Russia and they love it. That what’s make you a champion.
“But rules like women are not allowed to speak or the man is in charge, they don’t really apply.
“It’s individual about what people want to think about it but not to me.”
Ian Waite, who was a pro dancer from 2004 to 2009, also joined the panel discussion this morning and he had “never seen that or heard” of anyone “kicking” their dance partner before.
Ian admitted: “The dance world is a hard world to be in because you’ve got to get things right and you’ve got a lot limited time and you’re put under a lot of pressure to make the best performance you can at the end of the week.”
He continued: “In the past some of our lady professionals have been very hard on our male celebs, possibly the male pros wouldn’t have got away with.
“But because it’s a female professional telling a man what to do they kind of get away with it.
“It’s a very high pressured situation, maybe this is why is has created this atmosphere.
“Certainly in my experience I’ve never seen that or heard of that before.”
The Sun reported earlier this week how Strictly was in talks to hire chaperones for celebs while they are training for the series.
On Tuesday, the BBC gave more detail on their new duty of care and the drastic new measures to be implemented following the overhaul.
Going forward the BBC says there will be a “production team member present during training room rehearsals at all times”.
There is also plans to “increase existing support with the addition of two new roles on the show dedicated to welfare support – a Celebrity Welfare Producer and a Professional Dancer Welfare Producer.”
Discussing the new role of a chaperone, Vincent said: “I had the pleasure of choreographing the Argentine Tango for Strictly and there has been some of the couples when I was in the room with them, there was this man in the corner with a laptop for the first few days.
“They already had a chaperone in place for this specific couple because they didn’t get on.”
Graziano has since admitted “making a mistake” by kicking Zara in a rehearsal last year.
His representative, Mark Borkowski, told PA: “There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that is right, and he knows that.
“He knows he’s made a mistake. He apologised at the time.”
The dancer has told pals he is “mentally shot” after video emerged of him kicking and spitting his former celebrity partner.
A source said: “Graziano has lost everything.
“He is in pieces and filled with remorse. He knows, quite rightly, there is no way back for him in showbiz in the UK. His Strictly dancing career is over.
“He’s fled back home and is living on a farm, earning a pittance, and throwing himself into manual labour.
“He says he is literally living next to some cows- it’s an astonishing fall from grace.”
Graziano is earning £6-an-hour in his new job, a far-cry from the glitz and glamour of the ballroom.
It comes after Zara released a statement in full to her Instagram page.
The documentary maker said: “I felt it was right that I post something regarding the recent media reports.
“Strictly is one of the most magical shows on TV and one that I dreamt of being on since I was a little girl.
“I have wrestled with the fear of opening up – I was scared about public backlash, I was scared about my future, I was scared of victim shaming.
“But after a lot of conversations with those I love, I’ve gained the strength to face these fears, and when I was asked to speak to the BBC, I spoke candidly about my time on the show.”
Zara insisted that the Strictly production team and everyone behind the scenes were “amazing to work with”.
However she added that her “experience inside the training room was very different” and said: “There were witnesses to some events as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredibly distressing to watch.”
Zara signed off: “I would like to thank the BBC & BBC Studios for their swift action and incredibly high level of support, as well as everyone who has reached out to me – it really truly means a lot. Love, always. Zara.”
