Giovanni Pernice posted to his Instagram Stories on Sunday, hours after fresh reports emerged that three of his former Strictly celebrity partners had met to commiserate over their experiences with him.
However, the star chose not to address the rumours, instead posting a photo with his co-star and close friend Anton Du Beke ahead of the launch of their new show Anton & Giovanni's Adventures in Spain on Monday.
The cheeky snap showed the duo wearing matching T-shirts with the slogan "Good boys go to heaven, bad boys go to Benidorm."
Giovanni tagged BBC1 and captioned it simply: "Tomorrow night at 9pm!!" The Italian has been the subject of much speculation since his 2023 Strictly partner, actress Amanda Abbington, dropped out of the show for what she described at the time as "personal reasons," before later revealing that she'd been diagnosed with PTSD.
She has also reportedly sought legal advice to gain access to training footage.
© Instagram/BBCOn Saturday, The Sun reported that Amanda had met up with GBB presenter Ranvir Singh and Love Island host Laura Whitmore to swap notes after all three apparently found working with the dancer difficult.
Earlier in the week, Giovanni had opened up on the Invite Only podcast, where he praised Amanda's dance ability while admitting to being a "perfectionist".
© BBC"It's a shame because, in my opinion, she could have gone all the way," the dancer said. "I am a perfectionist, 100%, but it comes from a perspective of caring."
Since Amanda left the show, his former celebrity partners have shared their opinions publicly, with Michelle Visage confirming that she would describe the dancer's training regime as "tough".
© BBCDuring an appearance on This Morning, she said: "I don't like gossip, so I'm not here to gossip, but what I can say from my experience was yes, he's tough.
"He's probably the toughest pro there is. I wanted that. So it depends, some people can handle that, some people don't want to handle that. I wanted that."
Debbie McGee – another former partner – however, shared that she and Giovanni "had the best of times on Strictly".
© GettyRose Ayling-Ellis, with whom Gio danced to victory in 2021, said: "I started off finding dancing very confusing. It was a strange new skill. But Giovanni was so good. He listened and learnt a lot from me. We learnt very quickly that, if we were together, I could follow him."
Every Strictly Come Dancing winner so far
- 2004: Natisha Kaplinsky (partner Brendan Cole)
- 2004: Jill Halfpenny (partner Darren Bennett)
- 2005: Darren Gough (partner Lilia Kopylova)
- 2006: Mark Ramprakash (partner Karen Hardy)
- 2007: Alesha Dixon (partner Matthew Cutler)
- 2008: Tom Chambers (partner Camilla Dallerup)
- 2009: Chris Hollins (partner Ola Jordan)
- 2010: Kara Tointon (partner Artem Chigvintsev)
- 2011: Harry Judd (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2012: Louis Smith (partner Flavia Cacace)
- 2013: Abbey Clancy (partner Aljaž Škorjanec)
- 2014: Caroline Flack (partner Pasha Kovalev)
- 2015: Jay McGuiness (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2016: Ore Oduba (partner Joanne Clifton)
- 2017: Joe McFadden (partner Katya Jones)
- 2018: Stacey Dooley (partner Kevin Clifton)
- 2019: Kelvin Fletcher (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2020: Bill Bailey (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2021: Rose Ayling-Ellis (partner Giovanni Pernice)
- 2022: Hamza Yassin (partner Jowita Przystał)
The show's head judge Shirley Ballas also came to his defence, offering a public show of support while appearing on Lorraine. "I've known Giovanni for many years and he is an absolutely splendid teacher," she said.
© Instagram"My only ever experience with him is he is an absolute gentleman. He gives 100%. Strictly and shows like that, they are tough shows so you know when you sign up for that kind of thing. It's quite difficult to do the show."
The BBC previously released a statement, with a spokesperson stating: "Strictly Come Dancing has always taken duty of care incredibly seriously and there is a constant dialogue between senior members of the production team and the contestants to ensure any concerns are addressed swiftly."
