Amanda 'kept going and going' at Giovanni, his friends tell KATIE HIND

When Amanda Abbington told Giovanni Pernice she was quitting Strictly for medical reasons weeks before the show's finale last year, he helped her find the care she needed.

Giovanni called friends for advice to ensure she had the very best help, despite the fact the duo – who had been paired together on the show two months before – had often found themselves at loggerheads.

Amanda had, say Strictly sources, been a ­'difficult' celebrity partner for Giovanni, but a good dancer and always up for a challenge. Meanwhile, the pro dancer did his best to keep them in the competition and to make the ­practice sessions enjoyable for Amanda.

But just a month after she sensationally quit the competition, Sherlock actress Amanda briefed a red-top newspaper that she had asked for the video footage of their rehearsals, revealing she had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after taking part in the BBC's blockbuster Saturday night show.

It was the first of many reports which accused Giovanni, a Sicilian dance superstar who makes no bones about the fact he is a perfectionist, of bullying her.

The BBC launched an inquiry into Abbington's incendiary allegations, and she ramped up the pressure shortly afterwards with a bombshell interview on Channel 4 News with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, in which she claimed some of Giovanni's behaviour was of a sexual nature.

Those close to Giovanni say that her increasingly regular public appearances infuriated him and made him feel that he had been put on trial by the media – rather than his former employers at the Beeb.

However, he decided to keep a dignified silence and allow the BBC's HR process to do its job, waiting patiently for their report to have the final say.

And yesterday, it seemed his strategy was the right one. The investigation, which took five months – much to Giovanni's frustration, I'm told – and is estimated to have cost taxpayers upwards of £250,000, cleared the dancer of the majority of the allegations.

Of the 17 allegations the BBC looked into, they upheld six, some of which accused Giovanni of using swear words and getting too frustrated with Amanda when trying to teach her dance routines.

On one occasion, the probe concluded, Giovanni put his hands up in the air and said 'f***'.

It also backed up Amanda's account that, at times, he appeared to be giving her overly negative feedback.

It also concluded that there were two moments of 'inappropriate behaviour of sexual banter in the workplace', which were found to have been made and received as consensual jokes. While the full report will never be published, the BBC yesterday released a statement apologising to Amanda, as well as thanking her for approaching them with the complaints.

The corporation said: 'The BBC has now concluded its review into the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice.

'We have assessed the ­complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.

'We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.'

In response, Amanda said: 'As the BBC has indicated today in its statement, my decision to come forward and complain about Giovanni Pernice's conduct towards me was not an easy thing to do. In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I've been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being 'mad and unstable'.'

It is undeniable that the outcome of the inquiry is one that is open to interpretation.

While Amanda told of her joy, Giovanni's team say he is 'thrilled' to have been cleared of the majority of the accusations, which have been an ugly stain on his career since the beginning of the year.

And in a statement issued yesterday evening, Giovanni told the Mail: 'I'm glad the review has finally come to an end. The majority of the allegations have been thrown out by the review.

'It has been an extremely difficult year, reading story after story and not being able to say anything in return as I respected the integrity of the review, which the BBC asked everyone to do.

'I loved my time on Strictly and made some amazing memories. But now I am fully focused on Dancing With The Stars in Italy and supporting my dance partner Bianca [Guaccero].

'I'm grateful to all those who have supported me at this time – I really don't know how I would have got through this without the love and belief of my family, friends, colleagues and fans.'

Although Giovanni, 34, who was pictured in London with Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood on Sunday, came across as extremely magnanimous during the investigation, particularly given the star was forced to quit Strictly after nine years thanks to Amanda's allegations, he has, in reality, been furious about the whole situation.

Friends say that he was ­devastated at her claims. 'She just kept going and going on him,' says a source close to Giovanni.

I know first hand of Amanda's wrath. One Sunday in May she called me via Facebook's Messenger app to take issue with a story I had written about her.

Having found me on the social media platform, she screamed at me for writing that it was Giovanni who asked for their dance rehearsals to be recorded. Amanda claimed it was her request and she threatened to set her lawyers on me.

After her phone call, she sent me a private message on Facebook to apologise for her ­outburst. When I didn't reply, she posted publicly on my page, telling me to read it. Amanda and Giovanni reportedly fell out just weeks after beginning rehearsals, though Amanda insisted they were friends.

In fact, the inquiry was handed a 28-minute audio recording from the couple's training session which Giovanni believed would help exonerate him of Amanda's complaints.

Within the tape, Amanda says if she were him, she 'would have thrown me out of the window by now' in an apparent acknowledgement that she can be difficult.

She also refers to how she 'self-sabotages', repeatedly mentioning how he has been a support to her and describing herself as a 'nightmare'. And I previously revealed that ­Giovanni gave investigators a dossier of screenshots of WhatsApp messages between himself and Amanda, 52, in which she gushes at how helpful he has been, how much she likes him and apologises to him.

One source close to Giovanni said: 'Gio thinks he tried hard to find common ground with Amanda.'

I can also reveal that Amanda got in touch with numerous ­former Strictly contestants whom she hoped could back her up with her claims that Giovanni was a bully.

She reportedly met with two of Giovanni's former partners, TV hosts Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh to discus their shared torment.

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Revealed: The bullying allegations Amanda Abbington made against Strictly's Giovanni Pernice

Laura went on to say publicly that she approached the BBC when she took part in 2015 to complain about Giovanni.

Ranvir has not said a word – but has kept a photograph of her performing a Strictly routine as her Instagram profile picture.

'At that point it [seemed like it] was clear that she wanted others to pile in,' says one source familiar with Amanda. 'There was a sense that she was looking for other people's stories to help hers.'

Strictly staff too, even senior ones, have been left baffled at her determination to place Strictly – one of Britain's most loved and long-standing television shows – under a dark cloud.

'Understandably Amanda feels like she had a very difficult time on the show and her experiences should not be ignored,' says one BBC source.

'Of course things have been changed in response to her ­complaints to the BBC, which is no bad thing, but hopefully now she will leave things alone.'

Even so, there is a lingering feeling that the report was 'fudged' by BBC bosses to make sure that they could not be accused of not believing Amanda.

I'm told by numerous sources that, for some weeks, bosses held meetings to discuss how they could make sure that the verdict showed that they had ­listened to Amanda.

BBC insiders say that they hope a line has now been drawn under the saga. However, the same ­cannot be said for Giovanni. I'm told there is a chance he will take things further.

'His reputation has been dragged through the mud,' says one source close to him.

As for the BBC, Team Giovanni are unhappy at the lack of psychological testing which meant he was paired with Amanda.

So will he sue?

'Who knows,' said a friend. 'Today he is happy [to be exonerated of the majority of claims against him] but maybe when the dust has settled he may look at things differently.'