W hen the presenter Tess Daly high-kicked off the first episode of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, warning viewers, “Don’t let the beautiful costumes and fancy footwork fool you, because behind those smiles it is blood, sweat and tears”, she could not have envisaged how darkly apposite those words would seem today. The hit BBC series, which returns next month, is celebrating its 20th anniversary but now finds itself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Two of its dancers, Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima, are missing from the lineup after allegations of abusive behaviour, which they deny, and the BBC is investigating conduct and culture on the show.
The review was prompted by Pernice’s dance partner, the actor Amanda Abbington, quitting last year’s series after five weeks and subsequently making a complaint about his teaching methods, alleging that she had been subjected to “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying”. Pernice rejected “any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour” and left Strictly, believing he will be cleared by evidence given to the BBC investigation. Away from the show, police are looking into alleged death threats made to Abbington after her complaint was made public.
She told Channel 4 News that she had also received “rape threats towards not only myself but my daughter and ...
threats of death to my son”. Abbington’s complaints about Pernice prompted another of last year’s stars, Love Islander Zara McDermott, to come f.