My Strictly ordeal with Giovanni was so toxic I was relieved when cancer scare meant I could quit, says Amanda Abbington
AMANDA Abbington has revealed her Strictly nightmare with Giovanni Pernice got so bad that she was actually relieved when a cancer scare meant she could quit the show.
The BBC apologised to the actress last week after a five-month inquiry into bullying claims in the last series.
Today, Amanda reveals her stint was “morbid and toxic” and how:
- GIOVANNI called her a “vegetable” at training — days after meeting her fiancé, a wheelchair user;
- THE dancer also told her: “You’re a 52-year-old menopausal woman” and “I’d f**k you”;
- HE said he wanted pleasure himself when she danced well; and
- HER ex Martin Freeman wanted to kill Gio over his behaviour.
Amanda, 50, left the BBC1 show in week six last October, citing personal and medical reasons.
Today she reveals she had found two lumps in her right breast.
She said: “By my final week, on the Thursday morning, I was in the shower and I found two lumps. I’d got the all-clear after a mammogram a couple of months before.
“I went in for rehearsals to do the cha-cha-cha and just couldn’t concentrate. Giovanni said, ‘There’s no point teaching you this because it’s not going in. You can’t get it. We’ll be lucky if we get through because you’re useless’.
“He refused to even look at me so I went to the toilet, came back and said, ‘I’m going to go to the hospital now because I found two lumps in my breast this morning’.
“Then he was great. He said, ‘Well, let me know how it goes’.
“It was the catalyst I’d been sort of waiting for, which is terrible.
“But that’s what I was thinking, that it was a healthier option than being in that room.
“I’ve championed breast cancer charities but there was a part of me that was like, ‘OK, I have to deal with this now instead. Phew’.”
To her relief, the lumps were later found to be benign.
Amanda said the pair’s rehearsals became unpleasant “fairly quickly”.
She added of Giovanni, 34: “It descended into him calling me names, saying I was stupid and lazy, that I danced like a vegetable.
“It was an onslaught of being told you’re not good enough.”
Her escapologist fiancé Jonathan Goodwin, 44, needs a wheelchair after a stunt went wrong on America’s Got Talent in 2021.
He’d say, ‘I’ve got the keys to a f***ing Ferrari, but I’ve got an old banger in front of me that I can’t get into’
Amanda Abbingdon
She added: “The vegetable comment was hurtful. You think, ‘Do you know how offensive that word is?’. Giovanni had met Jonathan and knew he used a wheelchair.”
In the BBC inquiry, Giovanni admitted the “vegetable” and “lazy” comments but said they were about Amanda’s body posture so it was not upheld to be bullying.
Cameras were put in the rehearsal room in Barnet, North London, after Amanda raised concerns by day three of training.
She said: “The level of anxiety was pretty constant. If I got a step wrong, the fallout would be huge — rolling of eyes, tutting, looking at me like, ‘Why are you even here?’.
“He’d say, ‘I’ve got the keys to a f***ing Ferrari, but I’ve got an old banger in front of me that I can’t get into’. I tried so hard to make it work and that’s what was so upsetting.
“He had the capacity to be nice, but he chose to be misogynist, cruel and a bully. And the BBC obviously knew about this.”
The BBC report upheld that Giovanni’s language and his tone was “belittling, dismissive and insulting” in a way that was disproportionate and unmerited.
It concluded this was a breach of the BBC’s code of conduct, although the Ferrari and old banger claim did not feature in the report.
Amanda said when Giovanni was pleased with her dancing, he would make lewd comments.
She added: “He actually said, ‘You’re a 51-year-old menopausal woman but I’d still f*** you’. He denies that.
“But his evidence was not accepted and a finding was made against him for inappropriate comments of a sexual nature.
“When Giovanni would leave, they’d say, ‘I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this’.
He would say, ‘You’ve given me an erection, look at my erection. I really want to f*** you now that you’ve got that step right’
Amanda Abbingdon
“This is what I find shocking. There’s clearly this culture at the BBC. Certainly, he was allowed to get away with this behaviour.”
The BBC report upheld Amanda’s complaint about his “menopausal woman” remark as being inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, although it reported that he called her a 52-year-old.
Amanda said she was warned about Giovanni as soon as it was revealed they were paired.
She said: “I had about ten messages from people going, ‘I’m so sorry that he’s your partner’.
“They were people who’d worked on the show. Two or three were his ex-dance partners.”
Following her complaint about Giovanni’s conduct, Amanda had the support of her ex Martin Freeman, dad to their two children, and revealed the actor “wanted to kill” the Italian dancer.
The language he used was graphic, he’d say that he would w*** himself off when people danced well
Amanda Abbingdon
She said: “Martin said, ‘I’m so sorry that you’re having to go through this. This is awful. You don’t deserve it. I want to kill him’.
“Martin said to me, ‘It’s so unfair, Amanda, because you would always be like, ‘I want to be in that show’. You were so good in it’.”
Amanda also recalled how Giovanni would grab his penis when she danced well.
She said: “He would say, ‘You’ve given me an erection, look at my erection. I really want to f*** you now that you’ve got that step right’.
“I shouldn’t have been put in that situation. The report has suggested I was OK with that.
“That it was banter. This is categorically untrue. I managed that behaviour because I didn’t know what else to do in that room. I didn’t in any way invite it or in any way enjoy it. I thought it deeply inappropriate.
There’s clearly this culture at the BBC. Certainly, he was allowed to get away with this behaviour
Amanda Abbingdon
“Strictly’s most senior boss, Sarah James, agreed. Yet this has been airbrushed from the report. Why?”
The BBC upheld that Giovanni showed or gestured towards his groin but did not make any finding about the erection comment.
It is understood Giovanni denied any remark about an erection or having one and pointing to it.
The inquiry accepted he had said, “I just want to f*** you” and “look what you’ve done to me”. This was found to be inappropriate conduct.
Amanda said: “The language he used was graphic, he’d say that he would w*** himself off when people danced well.
“He definitely said it to me in the room. I’m angry and regretful I didn’t walk out. I didn’t mention the sexual stuff to producers at the time because I was so shocked.
“It was so shocking to me. When I had to retell it to the complaints committee, I couldn’t stop crying.”
The report said a witness recalled one time when Giovanni repeatedly said her dancing made him want to “w***” or “pleasure himself”.
But the person did not escalate the matter as they were concerned it may impact on their career.
The witness said it was before rehearsals were recorded or more detailed logs were kept.
Sherlock star Amanda is clear that none of the sexual comments were banter — as Giovanni’s representatives have suggested.
She said: “I was incredulous. It just doesn’t feel safe or healthy.”
In a workplace of a professional environment, Giovanni would have inevitably been dismissed for gross misconduct
Will Burrows
On releasing its probe report, the BBC apologised to Amanda, saying: “We want to thank her for coming forward. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.”
It said it took allegations of bullying and harassment seriously and that the investigation had taken time due to its “complex nature”.
But last night Will Burrows — an employment lawyer with B Square Law — said: “In a workplace of a professional environment, Giovanni would have inevitably been dismissed for gross misconduct.
“It’s up to the BBC to determine the environment they want to set.”
Amanda told how she was looking forward to learning to dance on Strictly, only to be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
She said: “I loved watching Strictly. And leading up to it, I was so excited.
“Everybody else on the show was just wonderful. But 80 per cent of the time it was morbid, horrible and toxic.
“I kept crying and shaking and feeling anxious and tingly and panicky. Even driving past the rehearsal room is hard. It was a very unhappy time in my life that was meant to be fun.”
Amanda has heard from people on this year’s show conditions have improved, with chaperones escorting celebs — but she says it will not ruin the potential for romance.
Amanda added: “Two single people can go for a drink. The chaperones don’t go too. But in a room where it becomes very heated, it’s good to have a neutral person calming it down and making sure that people are safe, happy and healthy.”