Giovanni Pernice's glam new partner breaks silence after she's paired with pro on Italian Strictly

Italian actress and singer Bianca Guaccero revealed her first dance with Giovanni Pernice on Ballando con le Stelle is Tango - and she thanked Giovanni's British fans for their support

Giovanni Pernice's new dance partner has broken her silence after being partnered with him on the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Actress and singer Bianca Guaccero is dancing alongside Giovanni on Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars), the dancer's first major dancing series since he quit Strictly this year after being accused of "bullying" and "abusive" behaviour by Amanda Abbington. He has denied all the allegations.

The 43-year-old Italian star revealed her first dance on the show will be a Tango, as she said: "I think the best dance for me and also for Giovanni is Tango. For me Tango is how I feel about life, how I feel about love and how I feel about a relationship, so for me Tango is in my soul and I hope to do the best Tango with my great Giovanni Pernice."

Bianca said she has also received huge support from Giovanni's British fans. She told Mail Online: "I want to say thank you to Giovanni's fans - you are a lot of people - and I want to say thank you also for all your love that you are showing to me in these days. It's incredible and so I want to show you my gratitude for all these feelings that are around me in this moment and I hope to visit you very, very soon in London, maybe with Giovanni or with my best friends."

It comes after a friend of Giovanni's revealed the past few months have been "absolutely horrendous" for the TV star amid the Strictly scandal. But the dancer's pal said he "is having a great time" on the Italian show and feels "so happy" which is "his way of moving on from the whole sorry situation."

Giovanni's pal told the Daily Mail: "He is so excited that he can keep on dancing and what makes it all the more lovely is that it will be in his home country. [The past few months have been] absolutely horrendous for Gio. He has been stuck in limbo. This will be a lovely boost for him."

The professional dancer is also said to be "really hoping" to win the series with sources saying that he and Bianca want to do their best and are "getting along great in training." A friend said: "Gio is so pleased that he has been able to get back to doing his thing, it's testament to his strength of character. He could have buckled at any moment but he carried on and now he really wants to win."

Meanwhile, BBC boss Tim Davie has said the Strictly Come Dancing investigation outcome is "pretty close" but he did not commit to publishing the overall findings. It was expected that an outcome would be reached by the time that the 2024 series of the dancing show began, but this did not happen.

The latest series of Strictly Come Dancing started at the weekend with several famous faces taking to the dancefloor. Tim told Amol Rajan on BBC Radio 4's Today show: "Many things in life would be useful, but we have to do the process."

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