Giovanni Pernice has insisted he and Amanda Abbington "never had an argument" during their time on 'Strictly Come Dancing' and he is "upset" they didn't get a chance to make it to the show's final.
Giovanni Pernice claims he 'never had an argument' with Amanda Abbington during Strictly
The 34-year-old professional dancer made his first TV appearance on Tuesday (22.10.24) since a 'Strictly' investigation into his conduct, which upheld six of 17 complaints Amanda made against him after they competed in the BBC Latin and ballroom competition together last year.
Giovanni admitted he would have a "nice cup of tea" with the 50-year-old actress if he was in the same room with her now.
When asked on 'Lorraine', which was hosted by Christine Lampard on Tuesday (22.10.24), if he would want to say sorry to Amanda if he was in a room with her now, Giovanni said: "I think we would have a nice cup of tea, we'll have a chat and talk about what happened in that room.
"It's very difficult, because at that time everything was perfect.
"Me and Amanda Abbington never had an argument."
The pro dancer also admitted he was "upset" that he and Amanda didn't get the chance to make the final of the 2023 series, after she quit the show last October ahead of Halloween Week.
He said on the ITV morning show: "When you have somebody in your hands, like Amanda, she was brilliant and unbelievable at dancing.
"I’m upset because we could have made it all the way to the final. My job is to take everything out of my partner."
Giovanni admitted he can be a "strict teacher", but was "relieved" that the "most serious allegations" in the investigation were "thrown out".
He said: "It’s in the public domain, the fact I’m a strict teacher.
"If you want to achieve greatness, I think this is the right way to do.
"Teaching the way I teach is the successful way to approach this.
"If you come to the room with me and go ‘you really want to win this’, I will do everything in my power to win this.
"If you suddenly change this and don’t tell me that, there’s nothing I can do. I don’t read minds."
Giovanni insisted the investigation didn't find him "a bully", and claimed he has been called an "amazing teacher" on several occasions.
He said: "The investigation didn’t find me a bully.
"Bully is a big word, there’s a big difference between bullying and caring about what you do.
"All I had was 'Giovanni you’re an amazing teacher, Giovanni you’re great'."
But Giovanni hit out at trolls who attacked Amanda with "disgusting" messages.
Asked if there is anything he feels sorry for and would fix, he said: "I think the trolling thing and the messages was disgusting.
"All these messages she received shouldn't happen at all."
Giovanni admitted he would "never say never" about a return to 'Strictly' in the future.
A spokesperson for Amanda has said: "Mr Pernice’s claim that 'everything in the rehearsal room worked perfectly' is false and delusional, and underlines the toxic culture Ms Abbington endured on Strictly Come Dancing.
"The BBC’s own investigation concluded that Mr Pernice was in breach of multiple BBC Policies, including repeated breaches of the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy.
"Mr Pernice was spoken to by the BBC on several occasions about his misconduct - but his behaviour only continued. At no time did Ms Abbington regard his verbal abuse or inappropriate sexual behaviour as banter.
"This is precisely the kind of gaslighting behaviour which victims of bullying and harassment often have to endure: it’s these people Ms Abbington will continue to speak up for."
The BBC apologised to Amanda over her 'Strictly' experience after upholding six of the 17 complaints she made against Giovanni.
In a statement last month, the BBC said: "We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.
"We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do."
The report found that some of the language used by Giovanni towards Amanda could be "belittling" and agreed with the 'Sherlock' actress that his feedback was, at times, "overly negative" and that he had used profanity during rehearsals.
The report noted after reviewing several hours of rehearsal footage as part of an official investigation that there were two moments of "inappropriate behaviour of sexual banter in the workplace", which were found to simply have been "made and received as jokes" between the pair.
Tagged in Amanda Abbington