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Strictly Come Dancing’s Giovanni Pernice has spoken out about his rehearsal room relationship with Amanda Abbington in detail for the first time.

Abbington, 50, pulled out of the BBC One show last year and later filed complaints of verbal bullying and harassment against her professional dance partner Pernice, and revealed she had endured PTSD as a result of the experience. Pernice has denied any wrongdoing while the BBC’s months-long investigation into his conduct acknowledged Abbington’s complaints of verbal bullying and harassment but concluded that the Italian dancer was not physically aggressive to his celebrity partner.

Since the probe, Abbington has said she is considering further action about specific allegations such as the claim that Pernice made a shocking sexual gesture towards her.

Speaking about his relationship with the Sherlock actor in an interview for the first time since the probe, Pernice told MailOnline that he and Abbington would share jokes together and “she would say very bad things, like the c-word”.

Pernice, 34, recalled that production staff noticed that he and Abbington would exchange rude words, but Abbington insisted it was a joke.

“In actual fact, the production staff came to us and said, ‘We have noticed that you call each other that word, is it ok?’” Pernice said.

“And she was like, ‘Oh yeah it’s fine, I call him that! It’s absolutely fine, I started it’, those were her words. And I was like, ‘Yes guys, we are fine, we are joking like this.’”

“She’s the person who would start the joke. She would tell a dark joke. That was the banter we had from the beginning, very rude banter.”

Pernice, who joined the BBC dancing competition in 2015, was axed from the show after the allegations came to light.

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After launching the findings of its investigation, the BBC issued an apology to Abbington and thanked her for coming forward. It upheld complaints such as Pernice getting frustrated with the actor while teaching her the routines.

Pernice has now said that other couples would get frustrated, too, and that it “wasn’t just us”.

He claimed that by week two of working with the actor, he had been informed by another contestant that Abbington had been unhappy with their training.

Pernice claims he got a different impression. “I’ve still got [Amanda’s] messages. ‘They say: ‘Thank you so much for your patience today, you’re an incredible teacher,’ so I just thought it was all great,” he said.

“Then one of the celebrities came to me and said, ‘You didn’t have a great week, did you?”

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But Amanda had told them she had a horrible week – and that was week one, before the show had even started.”

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Pernice also spoke out about his experiences with Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous programme on Monday (22 October), and admitted he gets frustrated in rehearsals, but “every single person on Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing with the Stars, in the world, would get frustrated because you feel the pressure… You want to perform perfectly on the Saturday night. So, frustration is something that when you want to be good, it happens”.

Describing his teaching style, the dancer said: “It’s actually in the public domain that I’m a strict teacher, I recognise that myself. I’ve been on the show for nine years, which means you know exactly who Giovanni is and the way he teaches. So, in that time if you want to achieve greatness, I think this is the right way to do it.”

Pernice has insisted to MailOnline that he had asked for rehearsals to be monitored and recorded to “protect” himself, but Abbington claimed months ago that it was her who asked for the rehearsals to be filmed.

The dancer said he was “gutted” when Abbington pulled out of the show, initially citing health reasons after she found two lumps in her breast and could not concentrate on rehearsals. The lumps were found to be benign.

Abbington told The Sun earlier this month that she had said to Pernice: “I’m going to go to the hospital now because I found two lumps in my breast this morning,” to which he allegedly replied: “Let me know how it goes.” She said that the moment gave her an excuse to leave Strictly.

However, Pernice now says that he had offered to call his doctor for her.

Reflecting on the last time they communicated, the dancer said: “Amanda told me that she couldn’t concentrate because while she was having a shower she had found two lumps.”

“I said, ‘Please tell me it’s nothing serious,’ and the first thing I did was call my doctor and tried to organise for her to have a scan right away.”

“So the last message between us was me saying to her: ‘Can I help you? Please let me help you, forget about the dance, forget about the show, this is more important than anything.’ This was the last time I heard from Amanda.” The Independent has contacted Abbington’s representatives for comment.

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After the results of the investigation were released, a spokesperson for Pernice said the dancer was “pleased” that the report “has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour” by him, noting that he “is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations out to the BBC have not been upheld”.

Abbington, meanwhile, said that the BBC’s apology “meant a lot” to her, describing it as “a vindication of my complaint” and “for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences”.

“I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed,” she added.

FERNE McCann has revealed tears were rolling down her face after a bad fall during Dancing On Ice training.

The Towie star revealed the painful reality of her training after The Sun revealed she had signed up earlier this year.

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She said a brutal fall left her in tears on the ice – on her first day.

The reality star explained that she took a hard tumble minutes after stepping into her skates.

She said: “I fell on my first day, the bruise is gone now, but they were like, ‘that’s great, get the fall out.’”

However, the fall has only added to her fears about the challenge ahead.

She added: “I think that’s made me more scared. I know how hard it is!”

“I haven’t fallen like that since a kid, the tears were rolling down my face.”

The reality TV star will appear on Dancing On Ice 2025, but fans of Ferne will no longer see her on ITV’s First Time Mum after she revealed the heart breaking reason why she quit.

Ferne quit her First Time Mum reality TV show after seven years.

Opening up about why she came to the decision, Ferne told GMB that her six-year-old daughter had asked her if she “was famous”, and this troubled her.

“I know it sounds really contradictory, because we’ve had the reality show, and it’s all Sunday’s ever known, it’s actually…. normal for her to film the show, and it really just stopped me in my tracks, and it made me feel really uncomfortable.”

Ferne added that she made “the decision to be famous”, but her child didn’t and thought it best to take a break so she “does not have to come home from school and film”

Her eldest daughter, named Sunday, is the child of acid attack convict Arthur Collins.

Ferne revealed on March 6, 2023, that she was pregnant with her second child with fiancée Lorri Haynes.

Ferne participated in the 15th series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, appearing as one of the late arrivals and ultimately finishing in third place — after controversially swallowing a live spider.

In January 2016, she joined ITV’s This Morning as a showbiz reporter.

In 2022, she took part in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, where she nearly killed fellow contestant Calum Best, and both went on to pass the course.

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Convicted murderers Erik and Lyle Menendez are not a danger to society, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

The Menendez brothers, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty, have been back in the public eye since the release of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

In a new interview with People, Gascón was asked whether he considered the pair dangerous and replied: “Based on everything that I know, I don’t believe that they are.

“Quite frankly, they probably haven’t been for a very long time, if they ever were. I think this is not like they were going around killing people or robbing people on the street.”

In the interview, Gascón said he planned to make a decision on whether to recommend resentencing the brothers by the end of the week, after after he discusses the case with his office’s habeas and resentencing units. A judge will ultimately decide their fate.

“I’ll be listening to not only the briefing, but recommendations from both teams,” said Gascón. “That also plays a role. Because they’re not just sort of an agnostic presenter. They’re going to be presenting what they think should be the outcome. I expect one will be saying, ‘No relief,’ one will be saying, ‘Yes, provide relief,’ and I’ll evaluate both of them.”

Earlier this month, Kim Kardashian called for the brothers to be released, weeks after the reality star visited them in prison.

In a personal essay for NBC News, Kardashian wrote: “We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18. I know I’m not!”

The Kardashians star went on to argue that the case against the brothers is “much more complex than it appears on the surface.”

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She argued that the sexual, physical and emotional abuse the pair claimed they suffered at the hands of their parents was not adequately taken into account and that media attention around the case meant “Erik and Lyle had no chance of a fair trial.”

While she acknowledged that “the killings are not excusable,” Kardashian said she believes “the trial and punishment these brothers received were more befitting a serial killer than two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse by the very people they loved and trusted.”

Kardashian is a longtime advocate for criminal justice reform and is reported to have discussed prison reform with the inmates during her prison visit.

Monsters stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as José and Kitty, with Cooper Koch and Nicholas Chavez as the brothers.

Since the series arrived on Netflix, viewers have been cautioning others on social media about the graphic nature of the violence depicted in the show.

MAURA Higgins and Pete Wicks were “all over each other” at a boozy celeb party last night, just weeks after they were spotted “straddling” each other.

Love Island star Maura and Towie legend Pete first set tongues after they were pictured snogging in public in the summer.

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The pair have always maintained they are “just friends”,

However, according to the Mail the pair were seen getting VERY close at the afterparty for the Pride of Britain Awards.

The outlet said a fan saw Maura “planting a kiss on Pete’s nose before the pair kissed on the lips”. 

This latest news, comes weeks after they were seen “all over each other” in a pub, when Maura joined Pete and his Strictly co-stars in the pub.

An onlooker told The Sun: “They were chatting to Pete’s co-star Wynne Evans and it was very clear they were more than just friends.

“Things have clearly turned romantic as they were all over each other.

“At one point she ran her hands through his hair under his hat, and they were cuddling loads too.

“They looked really cosy and comfortable with each other.”

The pair first got fans all hot under the collar when they were pictured kissing in a posh bar in London.

An onlooker told The Sun Pete came to join Maura at the posh five star hotel where she had been having lunch with friends.

They said: “Maura had been sitting on the terrace with friends for an hour before Pete arrived.

“After they’d sat there for a while Maura went in for a long kiss with Pete. It wasn’t the kind of kiss you’d give a friend, it was very passionate.

“Maura and Pete seemed to be really into each other and kept looking into each other’s eyes before kissing again a number of times.

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“When it got dark they moved into the hotel’s Flute bar and Pete sat with his arm around Maura all evening.

“They were all over each other. They looked totally in love and weren’t trying to hide it from anyone.”

Pete and Maura, who appeared on Love Island in 2019, were also spotted together in public at the TV Bafta awards in May.

Chivalrous Pete was photographed helping Maura into a taxi following the party at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

The Strictly has star recently addressed the ongoing romance rumours.

It came when the former Towie star appeared on Olivia Attwood‘s podcast.

Getting straight to the point she said to him: “Your dating life. Maura Higgins…”

To which Pete replied: “Me and Maura have known each other for a long time.”

Olivia was keen on hearing more, and said: “You’ve had a kiss, we’ve seen it!”

But Pete denied there was anything more than friendship between the duo, replying: “No, you haven’t seen it.”

However, Olivia seemed insistent on getting to the bottom of the story as she continued to press her pal.

Doubling down, she stated: “We’ve seen a picture of it,” as Pete continued to deny the existence of such an image.