Shirley Ballas hopes "everyone can move on" from the 'Strictly Come Dancing' bullying scandal.

Shirley Ballas breaks silence on Strictly bullying scandal

Shirley Ballas breaks silence on Strictly bullying scandal

The head judge of the BBC One Latin and ballroom show has expressed her support for the outcomes of the BBC's recent investigation and backed the way producers have handled issues in the past.

'Strictly' was rocked by alleged misconduct claims, with Graziano Di Prima dropped from the show after allegedly being violent towards Zara McDermott, while Amanda Abbington and others have complained about Giovanni Pernice's teaching methods.

Commenting on the BBC's report at a book event on Tuesday (01.10.24), Shirley said: "I don't condone bullying I've been through it myself.

"So if things aren't right or need addressing, I feel for the person that wants them addressed. And I think that's a big, important part that everybody gets to say their thing. But now the investigation is over and everybody can move on."

She added: "The eight years I've been on the show, it's been great safeguarding. I've always felt taken care of when the bullying got really bad."

This week, the BBC said that it has taken the claims "very seriously", although just six of the 17 allegations made against the Giovanni have actually been upheld.

In a statement, the broadcaster 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 'Mr. Selfridge' 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.

Amanda's complaint that he sent her a video on WhatsApp which she deemed to be inappropriate was also not upheld.

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