As he walked down a red velvet staircase with his glamorous dance partner, Giovanni Pernice radiated happiness.
With the blue skies of Rome behind him, he spoke excitedly about his upcoming performance on Ballando Con Le Stelle, the Italian version of Strictly.
Pernice told her fans on Instagram that her first week on the show, alongside 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 earlier, Giovanni had learned that only six of Amanda Abbington’s 17 allegations against him had been confirmed by the BBC following a six-month investigation. In her opinion, the most serious accusations she had made were not confirmed.
Now, it seemed, the time had finally come to put the debacle that had seen him drop out of this year’s pro lineup on Saturday night’s show behind him.
Professional dancer Giovanni Pernice with his dance partner Amanda Abbington on last year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing
Only six of Amanda’s 17 complaints against Giovanni were confirmed by the BBC after a six-month investigation.
However, that optimism proved to be short-lived. Within 24 hours of the BBC report being published, the actress gave interviews raising claims that Pernice had been acquitted.
One particularly damaging one was Pernice, 34, “flashing his boner” when he nailed a dance move; another, that the dancer had allegedly told Amanda that she was a “menopausal woman and she would still fuck you.”
In reality, the BBC’s review, which involved watching hours of rehearsal material, found “no evidence of the alleged… gestures”, nor did it find any evidence to support allegations that Pernice had made such a crude statement.
This is, his friends say, another attack on the reputation of the Sicilian dance star, which has left him in new torment. This week has been “a very difficult time,” they say. In fact, they talk about their fear that Abbington will “just never stop throwing mud at him.”
A source close to Pernice told me: ‘It has been terrible for Giovanni. He had to read stories about himself that were not true for more than six months and then the inquest verdict showed that he had not done all the things that Amanda or her friends had told the media.
But just when I thought it was all over and I could move on, Amanda decided to come out and say more horrible things of a sexual nature about Gio, which were not confirmed by the BBC investigators, and it takes its toll. She did interviews in which she appeared not to be questioned about things that the BBC’s human resources department did not consider proven.
‘He just can’t see why all this is fair. “It’s like they’re tormenting him.”
Despite numerous accusations in recent months, Pernice’s friends are keen to point out that he “does not want to be seen as a victim.”
But, they say, it has been “difficult” for people to think things about him that, according to him, “are not true.”
“Surely Amanda knows how damaging it is for her to be saying things of a sexual nature about him,” the friend adds. ‘Since when is it 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 at the top of the leaderboard and is the favorite to win.
And the worst part of all for Pernice is not knowing when it might end, if it ends.
“It’s getting absolutely ridiculous and really devastating,” the source said.
For Pernice, what adds insult to injury is that many of the complaints filed against the dancer appeared to be relatively weak.
Some were related to his training style and heated exchanges of profanity. In one, for example, Pernice told Amanda: “I’m tired of this, if you want to look like shit, I don’t care.”
Another allegation, also confirmed, was that Pernice told the actress: “You have so much talent and you’re not using it.”
In another outburst, Pernice said ‘fuck’ and threw her arms in the air as she showed him how to do a routine.
But he wasn’t the only one who used foul language. As I revealed last week, the panel ruled that Ms Abbington was the only one of the two who used the ‘c-word’ in the essay material. And in written exchanges between the couple on WhatsApp, he referred to his dance partner as an ‘idiot head’, an ‘idiot face’ and a ‘t**t’.
Sadly, it was even Amanda who was deemed to have initiated the foul language based on the evidence reviewed by BBC investigators.
Abbington has also openly admitted to using such language and finding it funny.
An unearthed video, which has surfaced on video-sharing site TikTok, shows the actress praising her “amazing” partner Pernice and laughing about how much they cursed each other in rehearsals.
Abbington says in the clip: “Giovanni and I played some really fun games. We have to be very careful because Giovanni and I say bad words a lot.
“We are very bad blasphemers, all the time.” We go blind and make each other laugh. And I love our dance.
‘He’s an incredible choreographer, he’s incredible and he’s created something really beautiful. It’s going to be so beautiful and wonderful and fun, and I’m so excited. “It’s a wonderful roller coaster.”
So what could be the next chapter in this confusing story?
Such is Pernice’s frustration that I am told he is considering legal action against Abbington; He certainly hasn’t ruled it out.
Then there is the BBC. The Corporation publicly apologized to Abbington on the day the report was published and thanked him for raising his complaints. Two days later, she was interviewed by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire, who did not intervene when she raised a claim that was not confirmed in the report.
“The BBC allowed a report to be covered up that allowed Amanda to suggest she had won hands down,” says a friend of the star. But she didn’t do it.
‘Of course, this is very upsetting and disturbing for Giovanni. “It allowed him to create a narrative.”
I’m told BBC staff are “devastated” that he won’t be on Strictly this year and feel Pernice was forced to leave.
Loyal viewers feel the same way. One said last week: ‘Come on BBC, get Giovanni Pernice back for next year, show some courage!’ He’s the best dancer you have! By letting him get away with it, you’re opening the door to the end of Strictly…’
But whatever happens at the bottom, Pernice can still finish the year on a high.
Currently sitting at the top of the Ballando Con Le Stelle rankings, he is the favorite to win.
And that would not only be an appropriate response for his former employers, but for Mrs. Abbington as well.
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 Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie. Nick Knowles returned after missing last week due to injury.
He and Luba Mushtuk scored 21 in their Charleston to Rain On The Roof from Paddington 2. Judge Motsi Mabuse told him: “It takes a lot of courage to come back.”
‘Samba Samantha’ Quek lit up the dance floor last night with Nikita Kuzmin. They scored 28 points for their routine to Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie
Nick Knowles returned from injury last night after missing last week’s show.
‘Gio and I swear a lot,’ the star told her fans
A video unearthed 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 former Strictly Come Dancing partner of a “continuous litany of verbal abuse” during an interview with BBC’s Newsnight.
But in a video that resurfaced on TikTok, Abbington is sitting in a car after a rehearsal with Pernice, 34, singing her praises and telling her Instagram followers how much she had enjoyed her day. She said: ‘Giovanni and I played some really fun games.
‘We have to be very careful because Giovanni and I say bad words a lot. We are very bad blasphemers, all the time. We go blind and make each other laugh. And I love our dance.
‘He’s an incredible choreographer, he’s incredible and he’s created something really beautiful. It’s going to be so beautiful and wonderful and fun, and I’m so excited. It’s a wonderful roller coaster like I said. We did our dance for the first time in the studio, three times in front of the cameras. I love our dance, it’s a beautiful thing.’
While Abbington claimed Pernice called her by her name, the BBC ruled that the actress was the only one of the pair to use the “c-word” in the many hours of rehearsal material seen by investigators.
The review also found that the use of derogatory terms and insults was common between the couple.
Despite appearing to get along well with Pernice, Abbington abruptly left Strictly during week six, citing personal reasons.