‘This is the real reason why I will never watch Strictly Come Dancing again’

His departure came after the BBC conducted a review into complaints made by actress and celebrity dance partner Amanda Abbington.

After an internal investigation, the BBC apologised to Abbington as it upheld some but not all of her complaints against him. It cleared Pernice of the most serious allegations.

When the BBC’s report was published, BBC News was told the review looked into 17 complaints, and six were upheld. Pernice repeated this number in his memoir, Gio: Taking the Lead.

The report and details of which complaints were upheld were not published by the BBC. Pernice has since described the upheld complaints as relating to bad language and a colourful choice of words. Abbington has refuted this claim as a “mischaracterisation” of the investigation.

In his memoir, Pernice described how he found the BBC’s “mealy-mouthed” statement following the investigation “frustrating”. He penned: “They didn’t detail the many allegations that I was cleared of, and, worse still in my view, they chose to apologise to Amanda.”

The weight of the investigation combined with the countless headlines and column inches dedicated to the saga led Pernice to the brink of suicide as he awaited the outcome. Abbington has been open about how the ordeal, meanwhile, left her with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

As he waited for the results, Pernice wrote in his book how he felt “abandoned” by his fellow Strictly pros. He cites Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas as the only members of the so-called Strictly “family” to show unwavering support.

The reaction from his fellow pros shocked Pernice, although he assumed they may have been advised against reaching out.

But when speaking to GB News two years on from the investigation’s conclusion, Pernice admitted he still doesn’t see that as an adequate reason to cut all ties.

“I would have reached out no matter what,” Pernice told The People’s Channel. “If I knew that somebody was suffering from depression and all those things, I would definitely reach out to these people. 100 percent.”

There was a moment of reflection, however: “Maybe, if I was one of the pros and I was very worried about my job, maybe I probably wouldn’t.

“But I think personally, because my position on the show was quite established with the audience and with Strictly, I wouldn’t care, and I would have (reached out) anyway.

“I was very disappointed to see these people not reaching out to me, but now, after two years, I can say I probably understand why they didn’t. They were concerned about themselves.”

|

PA

So, given the circumstances surrounding his departure and the friendships that now lie in tatters, does Pernice keep an eye on the world of Strictly anymore?

“Oh, no, I don’t watch anymore. Oh, I don’t. Of course I don’t. No, no, no, no,” he emphatically replied.

When asked if he finds it too “difficult” to watch, Pernice dismissed the suggestion. Instead, he promptly shared all the alternate reasons why.

“Well, first of all, it’s because now there are all new pros. So the (new) people, I don’t care about,” he firmly replied.

“Before, there were pros that I still cared about. The sort of people that I knew and called friends. So I wanted to know how they were and which sort of celebrity they would get and how they were doing.

“Now, all these new pros, honestly, I don’t know them, so I don’t care about what they do or what they don’t.”

|

PA

There was another reason too, one slightly closer to home, suggesting that the portrayal of one big, happy family among the cast was fake.

“And also, I don’t watch it because they want it to be this whole family thing, and I know exactly what it is and what it isn’t,” he said.

“So I prefer not to watch it. Let’s put it this way, I always say Strictly is the show that’s changed my life in a better way. But over the years, it’s changed a lot.”

Elsewhere, Pernice suggested a sense of envy may have led to some of his former co-stars refusing to lend their support during the investigation.

Pernice had become a self-proclaimed “golden boy” with the BBC. A Bafta win with Rose Ayling-Ellis and a travel series with the aforementioned Du Beke were among the exciting opportunities granted him outside the ballroom.

“I think they probably thought, ‘Oh, this is great! Our biggest enemy has gone through a s**t time. Let’s use this to our favour,'” Pernice claimed.

|

PA

“My popularity went up and up and up, beyond the walls of Strictly. So all the other pros that were literally closed in that bubble of Strictly, they saw me doing all those things, and I was missing the group numbers because I was in Spain filming my TV show, and so they were like, ‘Why is he having all of this and we are not?’

“I think there would be an element as well of disappointment, and nobody was happy for me about my situation.”

Pernice went on to dwell on the differing “mentalities” of the pros compared to when he first entered the fray in 2015.

“My mentality when I got to Strictly (was) I stayed in my spot, I waited, and I was watching. I was watching what Anton was doing. I was watching what everybody else who was famous was doing. And I’ve learned from that,” he explained.

“I absorbed everything from that. Some people came to the show, the new ones, and they wanted to be the new Giovanni. And what do you do to be the new Giovanni? Oh, just come and be nice and good-looking and whatever it is. It’s not like that.

“My first four or five years on the show were just behind everybody else. I was friends with Aljaz [Skorjanec] and with Kevin [Clifton], who were absolutely established people on the show, and I was learning from them.

“This is what you do. You learn, and then you ask the question, ‘What should I do to make myself better? Why are they so successful?’

“But some people, they come to the show now and say, ‘He’s selling out his tour. I’m going to do my own theatre show,’ and then they got 40 people in the audience.

“That’s because they’re thinking they can do what I do, even without 10 years of experience in entertainment in the UK.”

So why did Ballas and Du Beke, arguably two of the biggest names on Strictly, put their head above the parapet to back him? “Because they’re established,” Pernice answered.

“These people know better; they know more. They’re grown-ups. And I think they both come from a dancing world, so they know exactly what it’s like to be teaching somebody.

“Especially Anton. He’s been doing that show for 20 years. So it’s coming from the perspective of, I know how difficult it can be to teach somebody.”

|

PA

The animosity and envy Pernice claims he felt has led him to think Strictly bosses “won’t let anybody do another show while on Strictly.”

He explained: “Look what happened to other people that became quite successful. Oti Mabuse. She had to leave Strictly at that time because she was getting – and rightly so – amazing other things.

“She was doing The Greatest Dancer, and she would come and miss some shows. Then she went on to be a judge on Dancing on Ice. And you can hear the background, ‘Oh, of course, now she’s a judge; she doesn’t want to be with us anymore.’

“It’s just stupid. It’s pathetic,” Pernice remarked.

As well as his new memoir, published by Headline, Pernice will return to his spot in the cast of Strictly’s Italian counterpart, Ballando con le Stelle.

| BBC

His solo dance tour, Unstoppable, also gets underway in the UK and Ireland in 2027.

Following the release of Pernice’s memoir, the BBC has declined to comment but highlighted the welfare and duty of care measures it has implemented on the show.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Abbington told GB News regarding the claims in Pernice’s memoir: “Mr Pernice has persisted in trying to reframe the BBC investigation and the findings that it made against him.

“To suggest he has not been given the chance to give his side of the story is ludicrous, given the thorough investigation conducted by the BBC, which he was part of, but unsurprisingly seems unhappy with the outcome.

“To suggest that the finding against him related only to the use of swear words is also wrong, but both parties were asked to keep the contents of the investigation report confidential.

“Following the investigation, the BBC apologised to me and paid me substantial compensation, which speaks for itself.”