Sashaying down some red velvet stairs with his glamorous dance partner, Giovanni Pernice beamed with happiness.
With the blue skies of Rome behind him, he spoke excitedly about his forthcoming performance on Ballando Con Le Stelle – the Italian version of Strictly.
Pernice told his fans on Instagram that his first week on the show, paired with Italian actress Bianca Guaccero, had gone well and that they were both looking forward to their second performance.
It was, friends say, a ‘good day’. After all, just hours beforehand, Giovanni had learned that just six out of 17 of Amanda Abbington’s complaints against him had been upheld by the BBC following a six-month investigation. In his view, the most serious allegations she had made were not upheld.
Now, it seemed, it was finally time to move on from the debacle that had seen him quit from this year’s professional line-up on the Saturday night show.
Professional dancer Giovanni Pernice with dance partner Amanda Abbington on last year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing
Just six out of 17 of Amanda’s complaints against Giovanni had been upheld by the BBC following a six-month investigation
Yet that optimism turned out to be short-lived. Within 24 hours of the BBC’s report being published, the actress had given interviews in which she brought up claims Pernice had been cleared of.
One particularly damaging one was that 34-year-old Pernice would ‘outline his erection’ when she got a dance move right; another, that the dancer had allegedly told Amanda she was a ‘menopausal woman and I’d still f*** you’.
In reality, the BBC’s review – which involved watching hours of rehearsal footage – had found ‘no evidence of the alleged… gestures’, nor did they find evidence to support allegations that Pernice had made such a crude statement.
It is, friends say, another assault on the Sicilian dance star’s reputation, which has left him in fresh torment. This week has been ‘a very difficult time’, they say. Indeed, they tell of their fear that Abbington will ‘simply never stop slinging mud at him’.
One source close to Pernice told me: ‘It has been awful for Giovanni. He has had to read stories about himself that weren’t true for more than six months and then, the verdict of the inquiry showed that he hadn’t done all of the things that Amanda or her friends had been telling the media.
‘But just when he thought it was over he could move on, Amanda decided to go out and spout more horrible things of a sexual nature about Gio, which were not upheld by the BBC’s investigators – and it takes its toll. She did interviews where she seemed to go unchallenged about things that were not deemed to be proved by the BBC’s HR department.
‘He just can’t see why any of this is fair. It’s like he is being tormented.’
Despite the swirling allegations of the last few months, friends of Pernice are keen to point out that he ‘doesn’t want to be seen as a victim’.
But it has, they say, been ‘tough’ to have people thinking things about him which he claims ‘are not true’.
‘Surely Amanda knows how damaging it is for her to be saying things of a sexual nature about him,’ adds the friend. ‘Since when is just okay for people to say things like that? He can’t understand it.’
Giovanni is now on Ballando Con Le Stelle – the Italian version of Strictly and is currently sitting at the top of the leaderboard and is the favourite to win
And worst of all for Pernice is not knowing when it might end – if at all.
‘It is becoming absolutely ridiculous and really quite devastating,’ the source said.
For Pernice, what adds insult to injury is that many of the complaints upheld against the dancer seemed to be relatively weak.
Some were linked to his coaching style and heated exchanges involving bad language. In one, for example, Pernice told Amanda: ‘I’m tired of it, if you want to look s*** I don’t care.’
Another complaint, also upheld, was over Pernice telling the actress: ‘You have such talent and you’re not using it.’
In another outburst, Pernice said ‘f******’ and threw his arms in the air while teaching her how to do a routine.
But he was not the only one to use foul language. As I revealed last week, the panel ruled that Ms Abbington was the only one of the two to use the ‘c-word’ in rehearsal footage. And in written exchanges between the pair on WhatsApp, she referred to her dance partner as a ‘k***head’, a ‘d***face’ and a ‘t**t’.
Damningly, it was even Amanda who was deemed to have started the coarse language from the evidence reviewed by the BBC’s investigators.
Abbington has also openly admitted to using such language – and to finding it funny.
An unearthed video, which has surfaced on video-sharing site TikTok, reveals the actress praising her ‘amazing’ partner Pernice and laughing about how much they swore at each other in rehearsals.
Abbington says in the clip: ‘Me and Giovanni played some really funny games. We have to be very careful because we swear a lot, Giovanni and me.
‘We are really bad swearers, just all the time. We eff and blind and make each other laugh. And I love our dance.
‘He’s an incredible choreographer, and he’s amazing and he’s created something really beautiful. It’s going to be so beautiful and wonderful and fun and I’m really excited. It’s a wonderful rollercoaster.’
So what, then, could be the next chapter in this messy tale?
Such is Pernice’s frustration, that I’m told he is pondering legal action against Abbington – certainly, he has not ruled it out.
Then there is the BBC. The Corporation made a public apology to Abbington on the day the report was released, and thanked her for raising her complaints. Two days later she was interviewed by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire who didn’t intervene when she raised a claim that was not upheld in the report.
‘The BBC allowed a whitewash of a report that has enabled Amanda to suggest that she has won this hands down,’ says one friend of the star. ‘But she didn’t.
‘Of course, that is very annoying and upsetting for Giovanni. It enabled her to create a narrative.’
I’m told BBC staff are ‘devastated’ that he isn’t on Strictly this year, and take the view that Pernice was forced to leave.
Loyal viewers feel the same. One said last week: ‘Come on BBC, get Giovanni Pernice back for next year, show some backbone! He is the best dancer you have! By letting her get away with this, you are opening the door to the end of Strictly…’
But whatever is going on in the background, Pernice may yet end the year on a high.
Currently sitting at the top of Ballando Con Le Stelle’s leaderboard, he is favourite to win.
And that would not only be a fitting riposte to his former employers – but to Ms Abbington, too.
With a shimmy and shake ‘Samba Samantha’ Quek lit up the dance floor last night with Nikita Kuzmin. They scored 28 points for their routine to Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira. Nick Knowles returned after missing last week through injury.
He and Luba Mushtuk scored 21 for their Charleston to Rain On The Roof from Paddington 2. Judge Motsi Mabuse told him: ‘It takes a lot of courage you came back.’
‘Samba Samantha’ Quek lit up the dance floor last night with Nikita Kuzmin. They scored 28 points for their routine to Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira
Nick Knowles was back from injury last night after missing last week’s show
‘Gio and me, we swear a lot’, star told fans
An unearthed video of Amanda Abbington shows the actress praising her ‘amazing’ partner Giovanni Pernice and laughing about how much they swore at each other in rehearsals.
Earlier this month the former Sherlock actress, 50, accused her one-time Strictly Come Dancing partner over an ‘ongoing litany of being verbally abused’ during an interview with BBC’s Newsnight.
But in a video that has resurfaced on TikTok, Ms Abbington is sat in a car after a rehearsal with Pernice, 34, singing his praises and telling her Instagram followers how much she had enjoyed her day. She said: ‘Me and Giovanni played some really funny games.
‘We have to be very careful because we swear a lot, Giovanni and me. We are really bad swearers, just all the time. We eff and blind and make each other laugh. And I love our dance.
‘He’s an incredible choreographer, and he’s amazing and he’s created something really beautiful. It’s going to be so beautiful and wonderful and fun and I’m really excited. It’s a wonderful rollercoaster like I said. We did our dance for the first time in the studio – three times for the cameras. I love our dance, it’s a beautiful thing.’
While Ms Abbington claimed Pernice called her names, the BBC ruled that the actress was the only one of the pair to have used the ‘c-word’ in the many hours of rehearsal footage seen by investigators.
The review also found that the use of derogatory terms and expletives was commonplace between the pair.
Despite appearing to hit it off with Mr Pernice, Ms Abbington abruptly left Strictly during week six, citing personal reasons.
