Giovanni tells his story: He reveals experience with Amanda Abbington

Just days into Giovanni Pernice and Amanda Abbington's Strictly journey last year, they were called in by bosses to be questioned about the foul language they were heard using with each other.

The producers were taken aback by the obscenities flying back and forth and wanted to make sure neither party was offended, or indeed upset, by them.

According to Giovanni, 34, Amanda was quick to insist that all was fine between the pair.

Finally breaking his silence on the saga that brought his glittering Strictly career to an end, Giovanni now tells the Mail in an exclusive interview: 'Amanda was a laugh, we were making each other laugh. She would say very bad things, like the c-word. She would use it.

'In actual fact, the production staff came to us and said, 'We have noticed that you call each other that word, is it ok?'

'And she was like, 'Oh yeah it's fine, I call him that! It's absolutely fine, I started it', those were her words. And I was like, 'Yes guys, we are fine, we are joking like this.'

'She's the person who would start the joke. She would tell a dark joke. That was the banter we had from the beginning, very rude banter.'

It is the first time Giovanni has addressed the fall out – and his revelations about this 'banter', arguably blow apart Amanda's claims that Giovanni was 'abusive' to her during training sessions.

Today, Giovanni reveals his side of the story and lays bare his torment following Amanda's allegations that he bullied her so badly that she was left with 'post traumatic stress disorder'.

After a number of stories appeared about the pair in red top newspapers in April, including allegations that Giovanni stamped on her foot (which were later not upheld), the sorry tale took a new turn when the BBC launched an inquiry into Amanda's claims –putting an end to Giovanni's nine-year-long Strictly career.

I meet Giovanni three weeks to the day since the BBC unveiled the findings of its six-month investigation into his experiences with Abbington – during which the dancer was asked to remain silent by the BBC and his life was put on hold.

He was smartly dressed for the meeting at London's Groucho Club in a grey pinstripe blazer and is clearly relieved at the prospect of finally sharing his truth.

It has been a long time coming. The Italian star lost his chance to appear on the 20th anniversary Strictly season (currently airing) because the BBC said he couldn't take part in it until the investigation had concluded.

When finally it did, after six months, just six of Amanda's 17 complaints were upheld. But the report – which cost licence-fee payers upwards of £250,000 – did find that on one occasion Giovanni told Amanda: 'I'm tired of it, if you want to look s***, I don't care.'

Amanda's complaint that Giovanni would get frustrated with her while teaching her to dance was also upheld by the panel.

At one point, the report found, he said to her: 'You have such talent and you're not using it.'

Another time he told Amanda: 'I don't know how to ask you anymore,' and 'it has been four days now and I don't know what to do.'

In another outburst, Giovanni said 'f***' in frustration as he threw his arms in the air while teaching her how to do a routine.

Giovanni tells me that Amanda, too, would get exasperated when she couldn't master steps.

'Amanda and I would be in our studios and we would hear other couples getting frustrated too,' he says. 'It wasn't just us.'

The ugly ordeal began for Giovanni in September 2023 when, after meeting Amanda in the 'speed dating' process of the show (when the celebrities rotate around the professionals for a quick dance and chat) he asked producers if he could be paired with her because he thought she was a great dancer.

Little did he know, she had asked for him too and so the show's bosses agreed to pair them.

However, his joy quickly turned into a nightmare in the second week of training, when another celebrity contestant told Giovanni that Amanda had been sending messages into their WhatsApp group saying she was unhappy with their training.

Giovanni, however, had got a markedly different impression. 'I've still got [Amanda's] messages', he reveals. 'They say: 'Thank you so much for your patience today, you're an incredible teacher,' so I just thought it was all great,' he says.

'Then one of the celebrities came to me and said, 'You didn't have a great week, did you?'

'I was like, 'What are you talking about?' But Amanda had told them she had a horrible week – and that was week one, before the show had even started.'

Giovanni reveals that he was so fearful that Amanda might tell others untruths about their time in the studios that he took it upon himself to film their sessions – initially without her knowing. 'That was the first time I knew that I had to take some action – so I asked for chaperones and cameras in the room,' he reveals.

Giovanni adds: 'I started to record myself on my phone. Obviously we were dancing and I wanted to see the video back but at the same time, I did it to protect myself. I told the production team I was doing it because I didn't feel comfortable in the room, I didn't feel safe.

'At that point, I didn't think she was going to accuse me of anything – but she was saying one thing to me and something else to others on the WhatsApp group. She was telling two different versions of the story. They told me not to [film rehearsals] anymore but that they were going to do it instead.

'They sent someone in with a camera and people to watch.' Giovanni says that producers then notified Amanda that they would be filming rehearsals.

Amanda, however, later insisted it was her who asked for the rehearsals to be filmed.

Giovanni does not deny that he is a demanding teacher – and that at first, he thought he and Amanda were good enough to make the final.

So when in October – Week Six of the show – he received a call from the production team to say that Amanda had quit, he says he was 'gutted'.

Hours earlier she had confessed to him during rehearsals that she had found two lumps in her breasts, and feared she had cancer.

Giovanni reveals: 'Amanda told me that she couldn't concentrate because while she was having a shower she had found two lumps.

'I said, 'Please tell me it's nothing serious,' and the first thing I did was call my doctor and tried to organise for her to have a scan right away.'

That was to be the last communication between the pair. 'So the last message between us was me saying to her: 'Can I help you? Please let me help you, forget about the dance, forget about the show, this is more important than anything.' This was the last time I heard from Amanda.'

It was four months after the show had ended, that Amanda decided to make a formal complaint to the BBC about Giovanni. Until then, he had been due to return for the 22nd series of Strictly. But her complaint changed everything.

'At that stage [the BBC and I] were having a conversation about coming back and what the future was going to bring. We were having a conversation, like they do with all the professionals,' says Giovanni.

'And then the complaint arrives and they say: 'At the moment we can't bring you back because we have to investigate.'

'It was the [right] thing to do in my opinion because you have to look into what is happening.'

Many would be angry, but Giovanni insists he wasn't. 'I will tell you why,' he says. 'I did nothing wrong. At that point I was thinking, 'Let's sort this out and see what happens next.'

However, the BBC had to unveil the professional dancers for this year's series in May – before the investigation was finished – so he lost out on returning to the show.

Things went from bad to worse. Stories about his 'bullying behaviour', which he thinks were planted by either Amanda or her team, were appearing in the Press on an almost daily basis.

Then there was TV presenter, Laura Whitmore who came out to say that he had been abusive to her when they were coupled together in 2016. Giovanni says that there was no evidence found that he bullied any of his previous partners.

'I didn't know when [Amanda] was going to stop,' says Giovanni.

He candidly tells me how, during the past six months, he has often been reduced to tears – and admits that the whole saga has left him depressed. He feared that his dance career, which he strived for since he was just 14 years old, could even have come to an end.

'I rang my parents up crying. They are the closest people to me. They were asked if their son was a bully.

'Everyone got upset, that made me upset. There were so many tears of frustration and sadness.

'I decided from day one to respect the process. Even my own parents asked: 'How the hell did you do that?'

Giovanni also split from his model girlfriend Molly Brown during this period – though he insists it was unrelated to the Strictly drama.

The worst moment of all, he reveals, was when, three months after the BBC had launched its investigation, he learned Amanda was going to appear in a television interview with Channel 4's Krishnan Guru-Murthy – a fellow member of the celebrity cast for last year's Strictly – to claim that her bullying allegations against him were 'of a sexual nature'.

He sobbed, fearing that she might have been about to destroy him entirely. Amanda had, Giovanni believes, been trying for some months to engage in a trial by media after she quit the show exactly a year ago today.

When the Guru-Murthy interview was airing, he tells me: 'I wanted to punch the television. I didn't watch it, I couldn't watch the interview because I was thinking, 'Why would you talk on live TV when we've both been asked not to talk about it?' My Sicilian blood would rise up and I'd think, 'This isn't the truth' – but I had to remain silent.

'It was the first time there was talk of anything sexual. Of course, I was worried it could destroy my career – the people that come to my shows are kids and women. I was painted as a person I am not. It seemed like the only point was to destroy me.'

Even after the report had been handed to both him and Amanda several weeks ago, she gave an interview to BBC Newsnight in which she accused Giovanni of making a 'shocking sexual gesture' towards her. The report, however, said there was insufficient evidence of him doing so and he vehemently denies the allegation.

Then, days later, in a newspaper interview, Amanda claimed that Giovanni said to her: 'You're a 51-year-old menopausal woman but I'd still f*** you.' Again, the report dismissed this. Giovanni himself is bewildered by the claim: 'I had to ask my agent what the menopause means.'

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Giovanni says that throughout the ordeal, his spirits were lifted by his fans as he embarked on his solo dance show – which was sold out across the UK. He was inundated, he says, with messages of support from thousands of people who thought he had been wronged.

Giovanni says he now realises who his real friends are, admitting that some celebrities and others he has worked with have 'stepped back' from him.

He is happy that the Strictly 'family' stuck by him all the way – especially judge Anton Du Beke, who proved to be Giovanni's rock.

Giovanni says: 'Anton has been the best friend to me. As you can imagine, at this time in my life, you find out who your real friends are.

'But all the judges and presenters stuck with me. All of them.'

Next for Giovanni is a showdown with the BBC in the coming days. He says he won't lambast the Corporation for how it dealt with the scandal - but he insists he will be addressing issues about how it treated him.

'I'd like to hear what they have to say to me,' he admits. 'We need to have a chat about the whole thing.

'I'm glad that they got the result that they did, but there's a few points I want to talk to them about.'

And what about Strictly? He was, after all, one of the show's most successful ever professional dancers and is much missed by its millions of viewers. And they will be delighted to know that he hasn't ruled it out.

'Next year?' he asks. 'It's too far away. At the moment I am just focused on Bianca...'

He means Bianca Guaccero, his partner on the Italian version of Strictly, Ballando con le Stelle.

The pair have topped the score board all four weeks so far. They are set to win and have already scored a perfect 50 out of 50 (the Italian 'Strictly' has five judges on the show). He has also temporarily relocated to Rome for the production.

Giovanni smiles when I mention Bianca's name. I asked if he fancies her - and he doesn't deny it.

Then he flashes his trademark smile – a smile that says he is thrilled the whole Abbington episode is over.