has opened up about her experience on in her first TV interviews. The Sherlock star, 50, wowed the judges when she competed on the show last year with her professional dance partner . But the mum-of-two sent tongues wagging when she sensationally quit the show halfway through the series.
At the time, Amanda issued a complaint with the broadcaster about her partner's behaviour in the training room. This pushed the channel to launch an investigation into the duty of care on the show. Amanda also claimed she had suffered from a mild form of PTSD after she left the infamous dancefloor, reports .
Ahead of its 20th-anniversary series, the show has been rocked by yet another scandal after pro dancer Graziano Di Prima was axed from the programme. The star was accused of allegedly "kicking and hitting" his celeb partner Zara McDermott in the training room. Now, Amanda has lifted the lid about her time on the show on Lorraine and Channel 4 News with host and former contestant Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
On Wednesday (July 24), Amanda appeared on Channel 4 News with the dad-of-two where she opened up about her difficult ordeal on the show. She insisted she wasn't the only star to come forward about her poor treatment on the dance competition. Her former dance partner Giovanni has since been axed from the show but vehemently denies her claims.
She revealed: "I know a lot of people went in to speak to them. I'm the official complainer. "I think there's about five or six (other complainants) from what I can gather, but there's three main people, who've made complaints.
Mine's the official one." The actor also revealed she was warned by previous contestants after the news broke that she would be partnered up with the Italian dancer. She told the newsreader how she received multiple text messages from former stars saying "I'm so sorry".
The broadcaster gasped: "That's a really odd thing to do" before Amanda explained how they told her it was going to be "tough". The doting mum thought little of it at the time, describing herself as "quite a tough old bird" before stepping into the training room. She insisted: "I thought I could [handle it] because I've been around the block a bit, you know?" In a bid for transparency, Amanda disclosed that she and her lawyer are fighting to get their hands on 50 hours of rehearsal footage.
It is understood BBC bosses installed a camera in the training rooms after she raised her initial concerns. She told the Krishnan: "There's 50 hours of footage that's being blocked. You know, 50 hours is a lot of footage, and a lot of time spent in a room that was toxic.
"So in the first week, I raised my concerns to the producers. Giovanni said that he asked for the cameras, he didn't ask for the cameras. "I know that he didn't ask for the cameras, because the producers came to me and said, 'We're going to put in cameras so we can view the footage at the end of the week and make an assessment and see what's going on'.
" Abbington then claimed that bosses told her they were "shocked and horrified" by what they discovered. She explained: "And then every Friday, after the next sort of five weeks, I would get the producer saying, on the Friday, 'We just watched the footage back, we are shocked and horrified, we're so sorry'. "That was to my face on the Friday when we would go in and do the camera rehearsal.
" Guru-Murthy then asked about alleged concerns of a sexual nature during her time with the dancer. He asked: "I heard - not from you, from somebody else - about an instance of, I suppose you'd call it humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature, is that right?" A tearful Amanda replied: "Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the many things.
" Since speaking out about her difficult experience on the BBC show, Amanda claims she has been inundated with horrific abuse from die-hard Strictly and Giovanni Pernice fans online. She said: "It's been brutal, and relentless and unforgiving. "The aftermath has been something that I wasn't expecting.
You know, the death threats and the rape threats towards not only myself but my daughter, and threats of deaths to my son." She continued: "When you get one of two of those, you kind of go, 'Oh god, okay', but I was getting dozens a day on social media - like dozens of people just saying, 'You should go and kill yourself'. Other people told me that they hope I die of cancer or said that my kids would be better off if I killed myself.
" The actor recalled some of the most shocking messages she received from Strictly fans. She revealed they wrote: "'I hope your daughter gets raped', 'I hope your son gets stabbed', 'You don't deserve any good things for what you've done', 'How could you destroy something like Strictly? ', 'You're a snowflake', 'You're an idiot', 'You're stupid', 'Poor Giovanni', and it was just all the time." Amanda also touched on the apology BBC Director General Tim Davies issued to past Strictly contestants earlier this week.
She said: "I'm glad he's acknowledged it. "I read an article saying, 'Amanda wants to bring down Strictly'. No, I love Strictly, I would love to have had a beautiful experience on it.
I really would. "I'm envious of the people who had a wonderful experience on that show, I'm so glad they did, and I feel really sad that I didn't get to fulfil my journey." She added that since her departure from the show, no one from the BBC has been in touch, except for occasional messages from some producers.
After the interview hit the airwaves, the BBC issued a statement in response. The channel stated: "Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on individuals. "However, when issues are raised with us we always take them extremely seriously and have appropriate processes in place to manage this.
As we have said before, we would urge people not to indulge in speculation." A spokesperson for the BBC said: "More generally, the BBC and BBC Studios takes duty of care extremely seriously. Our processes on are updated every year, they are kept under constant review and last week we announced additional steps to further strengthen welfare and support on the show.
" Giovanni's representative added: "We are cooperating fully with the BBC's review process. All parties have been asked to respect this process and to not speak to the media before it concludes. "We will continue to respect the integrity of the investigation and believe it is the right forum for all the evidence to be reviewed.
" They continued: "As part of the evidence-led review, the BBC has shared the allegations they have been able to substantiate with us. "They do not resemble Amanda's latest allegations, given to Channel 4, in any shape or form. Giovanni refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour, and having provided the BBC with his evidence, is confident that the review will prove this.
" During an appearance on ITV's daytime show Lorraine on Thursday (July 25), the actress claimed she informed BBC bosses that she thought Giovanni Pernice "hates her" after her third day of training. The star told host Christine Lampard the moment things started to take a turn for the worse in the training rooms. She recalled: "Week one, third day.
I've got texts to producers on day three going, 'This is awful, he hates me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong'." The TV star hopes to encourage people who feel "bullied" or are in a situation they feel is "toxic and unsafe" to complain, despite the backlash she allegedly received.
Abbington added: "I know it happened because it happened to me. I am not a sensational person..
. I'm not hysterical. I don't make things out to be bigger than they are.
"I know what happened to me in that room wasn't acceptable. I complained about it and sort of have not been taken seriously. We have to cultivate a society and an environment where women can come forward and say, 'Yeah'.
.. or men because it happens to men as well, 'I'm finding this uncomfortable.
Can you do something about it?' "And then something be done about it, that's all. And I think, we need to be brave and I want to stand up for any woman, any woman who feels that they don't have a voice or be there for her championing her and say, 'Yeah. I've got you.
".
