The BBC has released the findings of its long-lasting Strictly Come Dancing investigation – almost a year after 2023 contestant Amanda Abbington made accusations against the show’s professional dancer, Giovanni Pernice.
Abbington, 52, decided to pull out of the show last October and later reported “misconduct” from professional partner Pernice.
A probe was launched by the broadcaster, with the findings finally announced on Monday, September 30.
The 34-year-old denied all allegations and has now been cleared of all abusive behaviour.
The probe lasted six months and bosses have ruled the choreographer was not abusive, threatening or intimidating.
The full statement from the BBC regarding the outcome reads: “The BBC has now concluded its review into the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice.
Giovanni Pernice left the BBC series during the investigation
PA
“We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken.
“Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards. While competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyous and transformative experience.
“It is a great shame if this hasn’t been the case for everyone who has appeared on the show.
“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.
“At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough.
“This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important.
“The BBC heard from a number of individuals in making its findings. We want to thank them for participating.
“The BBC has already taken extensive steps to enhance our duty of care for everyone on the show and a full note of these steps is published alongside this statement”.
There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld.
It’s been reported that out of 17 allegations, the BBC upheld six, some of which were for Pernice using swear words.
The report states the language could be “belittling,” with sources saying they found “instances”.
The broadcaster also agreed with Abbington’s claims that, at times, Pernice seemed to be giving her overly negative feedback.
It was also concluded there were two instances of “inappropriate sexual banter in the workplace,” which were found to be made and received as humour and compliments by Abbington, according to MailOnline.
A spokesperson for Pernice said he was “pleased” the review “has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour” by him.
The chief content officer at the BBC said a number of complaints under its bullying and harassment policy were upheld, but said she was unable to go into further detail on the allegations made by Abbington about the actress’s time on Strictly Come Dancing.
Charlotte Moore told the BBC: “There were a number of complaints under our bullying and harassment policy, and a number of those complaints have been upheld. Not all of them, but a number of them have been upheld.
“I’m not able to go into further detail on that, and there are very good reasons for that.“It’s probably worth me just laying out the confidentiality of a complaints process, which I think is absolutely integral to the complaints process, and confidentiality needs to be respected out of fairness to everybody involved.
“But of course, we’re also trying to balance that with the desire to be open and to be transparent about the way our complaints processes work – and obviously in this case, there’s been lots of media speculation and lots of interest.
“So I think it’s really important that we’re as open and transparent as we can be about that process, which is why we’ve issued the statement.”
