The voice on the other end of the phone was outraged and came from a woman who had a lot to say and couldn’t have been angrier.
Last Sunday, I received a call from actress and former Strictly star Amanda Abbington, who launched legal action against the BBC and her professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, over their steamy moment on the show. She raised her voice, she clearly felt a huge sense of injustice.
The purpose of her call was to tell her side of the story surrounding the Italian heartthrob’s teaching methods and whether his behavior had ever crossed a line.
Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing last year. The actress clearly feels a huge sense of injustice about what happened.
Ms Abbington, pictured at Strictly rehearsals, is one of three women who hired £700-an-hour lawyers at top London law firm Carter Ruck to bring claims against Giovanni and the BBC.
The latest twist had come over who had asked the BBC to record their rehearsal sessions. Last week, I reported how Giovanni’s camp insisted he had made the request as he became increasingly concerned about Amanda’s behavior – a claim the actress now strongly objected to. ‘You’re wrong!’ she screamed. ‘I asked them to record them, it was me. Giovanni is unpleasant. He was terrible to some of us, to a group of us.
Amanda went on to describe how her life had been devastated by the experience, which has spiraled since she abruptly left the show midway through the last series. In January, she claimed that she had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after working with Giovanni and later complained of suffering a bruise on her foot during training.
Last month, it was confirmed that three women, including Amanda, had hired £700-an-hour lawyers at top London law firm Carter Ruck to bring claims against Giovanni and the BBC.
“You don’t understand how horrible this all is,” Amanda told me.
‘Giovanni’s fans have started trolling me now. “I had to leave social media and I received death threats.”
The call, which lasted seven and a half minutes, was significant. After months of simply implying that Giovanni was to blame for her early departure, this was the first time Amanda had officially been this honest.
What’s more, the actress also insisted to me that she had complained about Giovanni’s behavior shortly after the series began. “I went to the producers from the beginning and told them about Giovanni,” she said.
And he lamented the consequences: ‘All this because I didn’t enjoy a television program. “I didn’t enjoy it because of all this.”
Details about how Giovanni allegedly behaved have not yet been released. But days after his phone call, the BBC published an unprecedented statement about the dispute. After weeks of silence, when its press office ignored my questions or simply responded “no comment,” a spokesperson promised the broadcaster would conduct its investigation with “care, fairness and sensitivity to all concerned.”
The spokesperson said: “If a complaint is made to the BBC, we assess and take the necessary steps to establish the facts, whether there is a case to answer and, if appropriate, what action should be taken.”
‘This is all within the context that the BBC has a duty of care to all people linked to a complaint, that applies to those who have made the complaint and those about whom it has been complained.
The actress also insisted to Katie Hind that she had complained about Giovanni’s behavior shortly after the series.
The dancer, who quit Strictly in April, launched a counterattack by hiring rival law firm Schillings.
“While we know that our shows have been positive experiences for many who have participated, we will always consider any issues raised with care, fairness and sensitivity to all concerned.”
Sources familiar with the situation say the BBC was pressured by Amanda’s team to say publicly that it was she who asked for the rehearsals to be recorded.
A source said: “It’s terrible, really. Amanda wanted the BBC to set the record straight and confirm her version of events. But of course they can’t. It just goes to show that if you don’t like what’s being said, you shout it out. voice aloud.’
But in what is quickly becoming a sequined ‘he said, she said’, Team Giovanni still insists it was he who asked for the rehearsals to be filmed, not her, and say the footage was reviewed daily.
A friend tells me: ‘Why should everyone believe her and no one believe Gio? She feels like she wants to take him down and make sure the BBC is on her side. Giovanni wants a fair hearing. He has said all along that he will participate in any investigation when asked.
Ten days ago the dancer, who quit Strictly in April, launched a counterattack by hiring rival law firm Schillings. Her case is being handled by Joelle Rich, 39, who represented Johnny Depp in his 2020 defamation trial.
Whatever the outcome, the next few months are likely to be heated.
As for her phone call, Amanda sent me a follow-up message 20 minutes later saying, “I must apologize again for getting angry, I’m so sorry.”
Of course, the main loser in this matter is the program itself. Later this year, Strictly will celebrate its 20th anniversary, a milestone that producers will want to be a celebration, not mired in controversy. But with Giovanni, 33, now absent, some of the show’s 10 million viewers feel the show has been tarnished.
Even some BBC experts are dismayed that the dancer is no longer part of the lineup after nine years. As someone told me: “Everything would be so much better if Gio was in it.”