Actress Amanda Abbington has said she “would not have been able to live with myself” if she had stayed silent about her Strictly Come Dancing experience.
The 50-year-old, who left the show early in 2023, said she thought “long and hard” before making a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of former dance partner Giovanni Pernice due to the “backlash” she would receive.
Pernice, who has rejected “any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour”, will not return to the show this year, and said in a statement on Instagram in June that he is “cooperating fully” with an ongoing “BBC investigation”.
Speaking to the Sun On Sunday, Sherlock actor Abbington said: “I found Giovanni’s behaviour unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean. I couldn’t sit back and let him do that to other people.
“I had to think long and hard about making a complaint because I knew the backlash I would get. But I would not have been able to live with myself for future people going on that show.
“I know what happened in that room, it’s on video and I have no problem with anyone seeing that.
“It’s a duty of care that is needed.”
She added: “Rehearsal rooms should be a safe space, there is a duty of care and kindness, and that courtesy wasn’t extended to me on this job.
“I was being as amenable as possible and it wasn’t being reciprocated, that’s all.
“And I wanted to complain about it because I didn’t think it was fair — this is a publicly owned company.
“It’s insane what has happened to me, with the death threats and backlash.”
She also alleged that the BBC had known about Pernice’s behaviour and “it wasn’t an isolated experience with me”.
Abbington previously said in an interview with the Sunday Times that the show was “tough and horrible”.
In a statement posted on his Instagram in May, Pernice said he rejected the accusations and wanted to clear his name.
“Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive,” wrote the 33-year-old, who has been a professional on the dancing show since 2015. “No-one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me.
“I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be. This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win – for me and my dance partners.”
Professional dancer Graziano Di Prima confirmed last weekend that he was leaving the BBC show after claims about his treatment of reality star Zara McDermott when they competed together last year.
Di Prima said in a statement that he deeply regrets “the events that led to my departure from Strictly”.
Earlier in the week his spokesman Mark Borkowski told the PA news agency that he had been left “in a very vulnerable state” after “the deluge of commentary, too often without context or nuance”.
In a social media post former Love Island star McDermott said she had “wrestled with the fear of opening up”, fearing “public backlash” and “victim shaming”.
She added that she had spoken “candidly” about her time on the show to the BBC.
On July 16 the BBC said it would introduce measures to “strengthen welfare and support” on the show, including a chaperone who will be present “at all times” during training room rehearsals.
According to reports Abbington will appear on ITV’s Lorraine on Thursday.
The BBC and Pernice have been approached for comment.
