Amanda Abbington speaks out about her Strictly Come Dancing experience

Amanda Abbington has spoken of her Strictly Come dancing experience to both Channel 4 and ITV this week…

Amanda told Channel 4 News last night – who dedicated 30 minutes of their news programme to the interview – that she first complained to the BBC about her dance partner Giovanni Pernice within days of starting Strictly Come Dancing. She then pulled out in week six. Now the Beeb are investigating the behind-the-scenes goings on at Strictly, produced at the Elstree Film Studios in Borehamwood, with Pernice left out of the forthcoming 20th anniversary series of the celebrity dancing competition.

Abbington has now spoken for the first time in television interviews about her truth, and what happened away from the TV Ballroom in rehearsals and training with accusations of “abusive, cruel and mean” behaviour – all of which Pernice denies.

“Giovanni Pernice has consistently denied wrongdoing, and a spokesperson told us that he refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour, while the BBC says it takes duty of care extremely seriously.” – Channel 4 News

But Amanda Abbington says she and her family are now being subjected to “brutal, relentless and unforgiving” abuse from viewers of SCD. On Channel 4 News last night fellow Strictly contestant of the 2023 series, and news anchor, Krishnan Guru-Murthy spoke to Amanda about her issues with her pro-dance pairing.

Krishnan noted that  it ‘is not a normal interview because we were on the show together’ adding ‘and I saw you having a hard time. And you’ve had a very hard year.’

Amanda Abbington:

“Well, the aftermath has been something that I wasn’t expecting. The death threats [from SCD fans] and the rape threats towards not only myself, but my daughter and the threats of death to my son.

“And Giovanni [Pernice] fans and… yes, it’s just been, when you get like one or two of those, you can kind of go, ‘oh, God’, you know, but I was getting like dozens a day on socials, like dozens of people just saying, ‘just go and kill yourself. I hope you die of cancer. I hope, you know… just kill yourself. Your kids will be better off without you as a mother. 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.

“So it was… and then, in the media, just people printing stuff that just wasn’t true as well. Things that didn’t happen. Didn’t happen. I was never asked back to the final, and I read a headline saying I’d snubbed the final. I didn’t snub a final. Nobody ever contacted me again to be back in that show. Not that I probably would have been able to go back. But the idea that I snubbed it… Because I’d made some wonderful friends on that show and the people, the contestants, and some of the other dancers were just joyful. I didn’t snub anybody. I left that show with my head held high.”

Krishnan went on to note how he had ‘the opposite experience’ on Strictly, noting he ‘had an amazing time’ and how it ‘was life changing and I was very happy.’ He went on to ask Amanda ‘why it was different for you… we came out of this in such different places.’

Amanda Abbington:

“I went into it thinking, this is going to be hard work. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I want to learn new dances. It’s going to be fun. It’s a Saturday night television show on BBC One, so there will be an element of hard work. I get that. I’m a hard worker. I’m a grafter. But there will also be time to have a laugh and be… And I’ve been in rehearsal rooms all my life, so I know what they’re like, and I know how they can be. I wasn’t expecting this, that’s all.”

Amanda Abbington – ITN / Ch4News

Krishnan observed that ‘when we all began, you actually texted me and said, ‘so happy’. Amanda noted ‘Yes, I was. I was.’ But when she was partnered with the pro-dancer, things soon turned sour. Krishnan recalled, ‘ …when you got your reveal as to who your partner was.’

Amanda Abbington:

“I was thrilled. And then I got several messages saying ‘I’m so sorry’.”

Krishnan recounted in response to critical commentary that Amanda was a ‘snowflake’ and just ‘didn’t want to put the effort in’ or found it all too difficult, ‘…I met a friend of yours, I think, in the first week, who told me ‘Amanda’s going to win. She’s in this to win.’ And I was like ‘oh blimey, she’s really serious.’ And you were great. You were very, very good very, very quickly.’

Amanda Abbington:

“Yes, but I go into anything wanting to work hard. I have a strong work ethic. The fact that people think I’m lazy and that I was like, ‘she didn’t know what she was letting herself in for.’  Yes, I did, of course I did. I know what I was letting myself in for. I didn’t know I was letting myself in for that.

“It wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was, I mean, I can’t go into too many details about it because the complaint is ongoing with the BBC, and I can’t say anything about it.”

Krishnan asked, ‘You said it was abusive, cruel. You’re talking about sort of, verbal…’

Amanda Abbington:

“Yes. And it was unnecessary, and when that was getting thrown at me, I’d shut down because I’ve been in abusive situations before in the past. So I recognise the flag, I recognise the red flags. So I’d shut down and would stop, wouldn’t be able to do the job. I wouldn’t be able to do it because I felt attacked. Not literally attacked. You have to be so careful with what you say. People will go, ‘well, you know…’

“…You can have all types of abuse: emotional, physical, mental. But it was just, it was not conducive to a happy environment.”

Amanda Abbington – ITV Daytime / Lorraine

Speaking today on Lorraine with Christine Lampard the conversation continued.

On her experience, Amanda claimed: “It was inappropriate, it was mean, it was nasty, it was bullying. I put up with it for five weeks, you know, five, six weeks. It started very early on and when it started to happen, I would shut down because I would recognise those red flags and so, I would shut down, and then it would be difficult to get in. So, that would just be a self fulfilling prophecy.” 

Amanda Abbington:

“I am doing press for the play so, I think you know, talking about Strictly had to come up. I couldn’t stay silent on it because it would have been really weird. I don’t want people to be frightened of speaking out if they’re being bullied or if they feel they’re in a difficult situation, or if they feel that they’re not being heard and so, I was doing publicity for the play [and] people asked me about Strictly… There are things I can’t talk about, obviously, and I’m honouring the complaint, I’m not speaking out of turn, I’m not saying anything specific that happened.

“But, I do feel I have the right to say it was a toxic environment that I was in while I was rehearsing, because it was, you know. I know what happened in that room. It would be remiss of me if I was to just say, ‘It’s fine, I don’t want to talk about it’ but it’s important that women and men – because men get bullied as well – it’s important that women feel they are in a safe space where they can stand up and go, ‘This is inappropriate behaviour and it needs to be recognised’, and I don’t want women to feel like they can’t speak out.” 

On her experience, Amanda claimed: “It was inappropriate, it was mean, it was nasty, it was bullying. I put up with it for five weeks, you know, five, six weeks. It started very early on and when it started to happen, I would shut down because I would recognise those red flags and so, I would shut down, and then it would be difficult to get in. So, that would just be a self fulfilling prophecy.” 

Amanda Abbington:

“I was going into the rehearsal room every day, because I’ve been in rehearsal rooms for 32 years. I’m in a rehearsal room at the moment, which is one of the most beautiful, safe spaces. I know what rehearsal rooms are supposed to be like and I don’t care where, what background you’re from, whether it’s dancing, acting, singing, you know, you have a duty of care to bring into that rehearsal room, compassion, understanding, sensitivity and kindness. That wasn’t extended to me and so I just said, ‘I don’t think this is right’.”

Suggesting there were further discussions after that point, Amanda said: “Many, yeah, many.” but explained: “The producers got in touch with me a few times after I left but I’ve not really heard from people…”, adding, she would be willing to ‘speak if they called’ as she said: “Completely, I’ve got nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong.” 

Amanda Abbington – ITV Daytime / Lorraine

In a statement, Giovanni Pernice’s representatives said:

“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.

“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.”

On the ITV conversation, a statement added:

“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 ITV, in any shape or form. We would urge people to wait for the reviews conclusion and not to pay heed to very serious and defamatory alligations that have no evidence to support them. 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.””

The BBC said:

“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.

“More generally, the BBC and BBC Studios takes duty of care extremely seriously. Our processes on Strictly Come Dancing 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.”

The full Channel 4 News interview can be seen here.

Channel 4 News weeknights at 7 pm on Channel 4, Lorraine weekdays at 9 am on ITV1 and STV