After nine years of delighting audiences with his fancy footwork on Strictly Come Dancing, professional dancer Giovanni Pernice has stunned his fans after he reportedly quit the show following months of speculation about whether he would return.
The 33 year old Italian dancer had been in talks to return for the next series of the popular BBC dance show, but a new internal memo listing this year’s dancers has been circulated without his name.
It’s now been reported that Giovanni is now seeking a fresh start on other TV shows. The BBC tonight issued a statement regarding Giovanni’s future amid the reports.
This surprising move comes after tensions between the dancer and Sherlock star Amanda Abbington, 52, his celeb partner last year. She left the show in October following a series of confrontations that left her in tears thanks to Giovanni’s tough training methods.
The actress then claimed that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and withdrew from the competition citing mental health reasons. Since then, allegations have also surfaced from other celebrity partners who have previously danced with Giovanni, with many stars criticizing Giovanni’s brutal training style.
“Gio feels that too much control has been placed on him and now is the time for a fresh start,” a source said of Giovanni’s departure, which was reported this evening. “He wants to focus on other TV projects and feels he has achieved everything he can on Strictly by winning the trophy in 2021 and reaching an unprecedented four finals.
” told The Sun. He hasn’t done anything wrong other than being a tough taskmaster, but he knows his training style isn’t for everyone – especially in this day and age. He’s got a lot of other exciting things going on.” There are projects in the works right now and he’s just excited to get started on them. That’s his priority right now.”
Now that fans are upset by Giovanni’s departure from our screens, let’s take a closer look at what his dance partners are saying about their long-time partnership.
Georgia May Foote – 2015
Giovanni joined Strictly in 2015 and his first pair was former Coronation Street star Georgia May Foote. During Shaun’s appearance, Georgia was accompanied by her co-star Shaun Ward, who played Callum Logan at the time, and was seen cheering on her girlfriend in the audience.
However, in December of that year, their relationship began to waver after the sizzling chemistry between Giovanni and Georgia made them more than just professional contacts. Just weeks later, the two finalists, who came in second place behind The Wanted singer Jay McGuinness and partner Aliona Villani, were spotted kissing during a New Year’s trip to Disneyland Paris. It was witnessed.
Their whirlwind romance began, with Georgia proclaiming it was “the best thing that ever happened to her,” and the pair moved in together just weeks after the series ended. Engagement rumors quickly spread after a ring was discovered on her left hand, but the couple insisted it was an “engagement ring” and not wedding vows.
But it wasn’t long before the first cracks appeared. Georgia, who praised Geo’s coaching skills, admitted she struggled with her feelings of jealousy in the summer of 2016 ahead of the new series of Strictly, saying: Anyone who gets Giovanni is a very lucky girl. he is a great teacher.
“I’m excited for whoever he gets and, yeah, he’s a great teacher, so I’m happy for him. I think it’s fine,” she added. Unfortunately just weeks later, their relationship came to an end, when Giovanni publicly announced their split just as he was paired with former Love Island host Laura Whitmore.
Following the breakup, speculation flew that the decision had been Gio’s alone, and the abrupt end of their relationship had left Georgia reeling from the revelations.
“It was a huge shock for Georgia. They’d been talking about moving things forward and marriage, so for him to dump her doesn’t make sense,” one pal told New! mag.
“She’s devastated and in shock because it was not something she was expecting. There’s a definite feeling among her friends and family that it was very convenient timing for him.” But Georgia took back the narrative, tweeting her own statement to fans in late August that year.
“It is with great sadness we have decided to split up,” she wrote, a year after they first met.
“There is nobody else involved. Although it was not an easy decision to make, sometimes you realise that it is better to be friends and this is one of those times. We both have very busy work schedules for the rest of the year so we are both going to focus on our upcoming work projects and we wish each other well for the future.”
Laura Whitmore – 2016
Following his breakup, Giovanni was partnered with Laura Whitmore for the 2016 series of Strictly and the pair were initially billed as the bookies favourite to take home the Glitterball trophy. However, just weeks into training it soon became apparent that things were tense between the pair, with rumours of a strained atmosphere between the two swirling, sparked by Giovanni’s alleged ‘rudeness’ during rehearsals.
Richie Anderson – 2022
In 2022, Gio made Strictly history when he was given his first male partner for the show, radio star Richie Anderson. However just days into their partnership talk of friction began to hit the press, with the pair even rumoured to be locked in a “feud” after failing to “click” as a pairing.
The duo attempted to supress the speculation of trouble between them when Richie shared a clip of their cha-cha-cha to Instagram, captioning it: “A moment I’ll never forget and so grateful I got to share it with Giovanni.
“Thank you Gio for being the most amazing teacher over the past fortnight. Last night was a dream come true moment.”
Amanda Abbington – 2023
Giovanni’s most recent partnership with Amanda Abbington is by far his most controversial after their time on Strictly came to an abrupt end on Monday, October 24 when it was announced live on Strictly: It Takes Two that actress Amanda wasn’t returning to the contest after pulling out of the weekend’s show.
Although no non-medical reasons were given at the time, it was later revealed that Amanda had left the show citing mental health reasons after struggling with Gio’s intense training tactics.
Sources say Amanda, 52, was so shocked by Gio’s “belligerent and aggressive” training style that she wanted to drop out of the competition before the first live show. “Giovanni is a demanding taskmaster and takes competition very seriously,” they said.
“Amanda was very much looking forward to dancing with him, but found his aggressive training style and attitude very intolerable. He was very aggressive in his approach to training. That’s right.” She was very upset and contacted the team about her withdrawal due to “medical issues.” Less than 48 hours later, Fleur East announced her dramatic exit from the series, with Amanda later breaking her silence and revealing it was for “personal reasons” and later stating that she had PTSD. He said he was diagnosed. Strictly had to leave. “This decision was not easy for me, but due to personal reasons I cannot continue,” she wrote on Instagram. “It’s been a real pleasure working with my fellow competitors. They’re a great, hard-working, talented group of people…” I get to see him every Friday and Saturday and compete with him. I love doing it and I will miss it very much.
“Thank you to the amazing production team and everyone at Strictly for looking out for me and being so kind and considerate. They are amazing people and I will miss them all,” she added.
“I’m so sad I can’t go on. Thank you to everyone who voted and sent me such wonderful messages and emotional support. You all are amazing.” Really. thank you very much. xxx.”
After her exit, Giovanni shared a snap of the couple on social media and paid tribute to her with the following comment: “Amanda… I’m so sad we can’t move on but I… I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, and I’m proud of this. ” Sending you lots of love @amanda_abbington74 @bbcstrictly.”