Anton Du Beke admits he wants Giovanni Pernice back on Strictly
Strictly Come Dancing's Anton du Beke breaks his silence on Giovanni Pernice's sudden exit and says, "I'd like to see him back of course." This comes after Giovanni strongly denied claims of "bullying" and "abusive" behaviour made by Amanda Abbington earlier this year regarding their time in the Strictly training room last year.
Anton, who is now one of the judges on Strictly, and Giovanni, who are close friends, have previously collaborated on a BBC travel series and hit the road this year for a joint tour, reports the Mirror .
Amidst continuous speculation, Giovanni, Strictly's longest-standing pro dancer, has been embroiled in controversy following accusations of bullying from his former dance partner Amanda. Following these events, he took up a new role on Italy's Ballando con le stelle, departing the UK's beloved dance competition.
Addressing the scandal surrounding Giovanni, Anton told The Sun: “It’s one of those situations where I sort of feel like I’m on the outside looking in, because it’s about stuff which I’m not involved in, any more. You never want any bad press, if you like, or anybody to say anything negative about the thing that you love.”
He carried on to say that he was pleased fellow dancer Aljaz Skorjanec would be back on the show and that he was looking forward to moving “forward”.
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Anton continued to say it was like he was “waiting” to get through “this part” and continue with the “new show”. He also added that he'd be “disappointed” if any of this year’s celebs didn’t “have a good time”.
Giovanni isn’t the only pro-dancer not returning to the series, Fellow pro dancer Graziano Di Prima was axed over allegations of physical and verbal behaviour towards his former dance partner Zara McDermott.
The BBC released a statement saying: "We can confirm that Graziano Di Prima is no longer a part of the line-up of professional dancers for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing.
"While we would never comment on individual cases, it is well-known that the BBC has established and robust duty of care procedures, and if issues are raised we will always take them seriously and act swiftly as appropriate.”
The Strictly launch show kicks off tonight (Saturday 14 September) with the celebs being matched up with their celebrity partners.
The likes of Pete Wicks, Tasha Ghouri, Wynne Evans, Nick Knowles and Jamie Borthwick have already cracked on with training, but their partners will be revealed during tonight’s show.