I’m strict, but not a bully

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Giovanni Pernice has said he is a “strict teacher” but not a bully, following the end of a BBC investigation into allegations about his behavior during rehearsals.

Actress Amanda Abbington, his dance partner last year, has described his behavior in the training room as “inappropriate, it was mean, it was nasty, it was bullying”.

Following an internal investigation, the BBC apologized to Abbington earlier this month after upholding some of its complaints against him but clearing him of the most serious allegations.

“Bullying is a big word and there is a difference between bullying and caring about what you do,” he told ITV’s Lorraine on Tuesday.

When the BBC report was published, BBC News was told that 17 complaints had been investigated and six were upheld.

A source said the allegations related to verbal bullying and intimidation, but the most serious allegations of physical aggression were not upheld.

The report and details of which complaints were upheld have not been published.

Pernice said those who were supported were related to “verbal bullying”, but during the interview he also claimed that the investigation “didn’t find me a bully, and that’s exactly why I’m relieved now”.

He told Lorraine’s guest presenter Christine Lampard: “I am pleased that the 11 charges have been dismissed.

“Initially there were very serious allegations, for example threatening or abusing her, and all of this has been taken out.”

When discussing his training methods, he said, “I’m a strict teacher. I said it myself. I care about my work. I’m very competitive. I’ve won the glitterball before. That doesn’t mean I have to do every win times, but I will make sure I do everything I can to get the best out of you.”

Pernice won the show with Rose Ayling-Ellis in 2021 and was runner-up three times in the remaining seven years before teaming up with Abbington.

Dancing is “a difficult discipline”, he said, but insisted he would not change his methods because “teaching the way I teach is the successful way to approach this”.

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Pernice admitted to getting frustrated during rehearsals, but said that was common for everyone on the show.

“I get frustrated, the celebrity gets frustrated, and believe me when I say every person on Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing With The Stars in the world would get frustrated because you feel the pressure.

“You feel the pressure to perform perfectly on Saturday evening.

“So frustration, I think, is something that happens when you want to be good. And I care about my job.”

He described Abbington as “brilliant” and “incredible at dancing”, and said she did not discuss her complaints with him at the time.

“All I had was, ‘Giovanni, you’re a great teacher,’ ‘Giovanni, you’re great.’

He added: “We never had an argument. We always had discussions about steps.”

Abbington’s account of their time together differs considerably.

Following the BBC report’s conclusion, she told BBC Newsnight it was “an ongoing litany of verbal abuse”.

“There was a 35-minute tirade on me where he threw his hands in the air, called me names and told me all kinds of things that I was and that he couldn’t really deal with it anymore,” she said.

“And this went on for seven hours a day for seven weeks.”

About Lorraine, Pernice responded that “so much of this stuff isn’t true” and “I never cursed her out in that room.”

In a separate interview with the Daily Mail, Pernice admitted that the pair shared “very rude jokes” and that producers were concerned about some of the names they called each other. But he claimed she told them: “It’s absolutely fine, I started it.”

He said he had not spoken until now because the BBC had asked both sides not to do so until the investigation was over.

However, he was angry about an interview Abbington gave to Channel 4 News in July, he told the Mail.

During that interview, presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy – who also took part in last year’s series – suggested she had been subjected to “degrading behavior of a sexual nature”.

She tearfully agreed that this was the case, but said it was not sexual harassment and that it was “one of many things” that happened.

In the Mail, Pernice said: “My Sicilian blood would rise and I would think: this is not the truth – but I had to remain silent.

“It was the first time anything sexual was talked about. Of course I was afraid it would destroy my career; the people who come to my shows are children and women.

“I was painted as a person that I am not. It seemed like the only point was to destroy me.”