BBC bosses have been left baffled by Amanda Abbington’s request for footage of her Strictly rehearsals – after she claimed her time on the show left her suffering PTSD.
The 51-year-old former contestant made a sudden departure from the last year’s series, citing ‘personal reasons’.
It was reported she had quit after clashing with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice, 33 – but she dismissed claims of a fallout at the time.
But now Ms Abbington is said to want to review the recordings of their time together as she seeks legal advice over the dancer’s alleged behaviour towards her, believing video footage could ‘back up’ her claims.
Sources at the BBC are ready to fight the Sherlock actress over her claims that the show had traumatised her, saying that – at the time – she told them she was quitting due to a different medical reason.
A source told the Mail: ‘Amanda’s reason for quitting Strictly was an entirely different one to her PTSD.
‘She told production of a totally different medical condition and they [were] hugely supportive of her and did all they could to help.
‘Nobody seems to quite understand what is going on here.’
Abbington and Pernice during their appearance on the live show on Saturday for BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing last year, before the former contestant left suddenly
Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice rehearsing last year. The Sherlock star now says she left due to PTSD and has demanded footage of her rehearsals
It is understood that the first BBC chiefs knew about her PTSD was late last year when they received a request for the tapes.
READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing’s Amanda Abbington ‘was not invited back for series final by show bosses’ after her sudden exit… as she insists she’s ‘truly distraught’ she did not take part
There is added confusion because Ms Abbington quickly shot down suggestions – made before the show aired in September – that she and Pernice had fallen out.
On Instagram, she dismissed the claims as ‘bulls****’ and told people to, ‘Shut up, it’s b******s.’
During broadcasts, she and Pernice – who has worked on the show since 2015 – were seen hugging and appearing to be friends.
One Strictly source said: ‘All you’d see at the studio were the pair of them hugging and kissing.’
Ms Abbington left the show during week five in October. It has reportedly taken months for her to recover from her time on the programme and she has apparently needed therapy following the ‘behaviour she was exposed to’.
A source told The Sun: ‘Everyone else was having a fabulous time but she was really stressed by having to spend eight hours a day with Giovanni. She spent a lot of time crying and couldn’t sleep or eat properly.’
The partners were said to have been at loggerheads for weeks during rehearsals, with the actress ‘left shaken’ by the professional dancer’s ‘militant and aggressive’ training style.
Known to be a ‘perfectionist’, it is not the first time Pernice has had issues with his celebrity partners. In 2016, TV presenter Laura Whitmore said: ‘I’m still not ready to talk in-depth about my experience on the show.
‘I was placed with a dance partner I was extremely uncomfortable with and in the end I felt broken, I cried every day. And I was really broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.’
Strictly Come Dancing star Amanda Abbington has reportedly demanded bosses hand over footage of her rehearsals with Giovanni Pernice after they clashed while working together
Amanda reposted a fan’s comment on her Instagram stories. The Strictly viewer said: ‘I was truly distraught with her sudden departure from the show’
In 2020, Pernice fell out with Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh as she admitted to having a ‘total meltdown’ in rehearsals with him.
The ITV presenter told her co-star Kate Garraway that she and the dancer had a ’20-minute divorce’ as things became tense in training.
She said gruelling rehearsals pushed her to walk out and take some time to gather herself after Pernice ‘put me in my place’.
Ms Abbington has been contacted for comment. Pernice declined to comment.
