Amanda Abbington has claimed a Strictly producer said they felt “horrified” and apologised after seeing footage of her rehearsing with Giovanni Pernice.
The actress, 50, has claimed she suffered ‘bullying’ from Italian dancer Giovanni, 33, during her time on the 2023 series.
On Wednesday night (July 24), she spoke out in an emotional interview with Channel 4. She described her experience on the programme.
Amanda Abbington interview
Speaking to fellow Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Amanda said cameras became installed in the rehearsing room. It came after she raised concerns about Giovanni in the first week.
Amanda said: “Every Friday, after the next sort of five weeks, I would get the producer saying, on the Friday, ‘We’ve just watched the footage back, we are shocked and horrified, we’re so sorry.’ That was to my face on the Friday when we would go in and do the camera rehearsal.”
She added: “It’s out there. There is evidence out there of what happened in that room. I’m not the one who’s blocking it.”
Krishnan asked Amanda if she was talking about ‘bullying’. Amanda said: “Yes, 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. You have to manage those things because otherwise, what do you do?”
Krishnan then asked Amanda: “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?”
I would get the producer saying, on the Friday, ‘We’ve just watched the footage back, we are shocked and horrified, we’re so sorry.’
Becoming emotional, Amanda confirmed: “Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the many things.”
A spokesperson for Giovanni told MailOnline: “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.”
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Amanda on Strictly death threats
Elsewhere in the interview, Amanda revealed the shocking aftermath of her speaking out about her experience.
Amanda said she received rape threats “towards not only myself, but my daughter, and the threats of death to my son”.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process. 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.”
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