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Louise Thomas
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Matt Baker has made a sweeping claim about his time on Strictly Come Dancing.
The TV host appeared on the series in 2010, when he was partnered with Aliona Vilani. The pair finished in second place, and were beaten by former EastEnders star Kara Tointon and professional Artem Chigvintsev, who was arrested on a domestic violence charge last month.
Baker has reflected on his time on the BBC dancing competition amid a scandal that’s rocked the show in the last year. After quitting the series in 2023, Amanda Abbington complained about her professional partner, Giovanni Pernice, which led to an investigation by the corporation into conduct in the rehearsal room.
Shortly after, Graziano Di Prima was dropped from the show after his alleged mistreatment of his celebrity partner, Zara McDermott, was made public. Di Prima has since called the claims levied against him “vile” and “false”.
Many celebrities who have participated on the show since it started in 2004 have shared their respective negative experiences, with Paralympian Will Bayley revealing the series left him with a “horrific” injury he’ll “never get over”.
However, Baker believes he had the most “intense” experience of any celebrity due to the busy workload he had to juggle while taking part on the show. He was presenting both The One Show and Countryfile at the time.
He told Metro.co.uk: ‘I don’t think anybody in the history of Strictly has had a more intense experience than me when you look at all of the work I was doing at the same time.”
In 2010, it was reported that Vilani made Baker push through nausea he experienced after suffering from dizziness while rehearsing. Vilani said: “He was getting quite sick but we don’t have too many hours of practice so I had to crack the whip and be tough and in the end he got over it.”
Baker continued: “Just thinking about it, I’m feeling sick. There’s a lot of twirling and the whole room is constantly moving, even when we stop.’
The Independent contacted Baker for comment.
Abbington suddenly quit Strictly five episodes into the 2023 series, citing medical reasons.
The actor recently said that, in the aftermath of her exit, she received “death threats” and “rape threats towards not only myself, but my daughter, and the threats of death to my son” due to her allegations against Pernice, who won’t be a part of this year’s series when it starts later this month.
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A BBC spokesperson 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.”
Pernice has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a statement in response to the Channel 4 interview, the dancer’s spokesperson 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.”
