Giovanni Pernice 'thought it was over' amid Amanda Abbington Strictly scandal

Giovanni Pernice has shared the 'dark moments' he faced after he was involved in a Strictly Come Dancing scandal with Amanda Abbington. After being paired together on the 2023 series of the BBC dance contest, Amanda filed complaints about the professional dancer, which led to the BBC launching an investigation.

Giovanni, 34, has now admitted that he feared he would 'lose everything' in the bullying row, which saw his dance partner Amanda Abbington, 50, quit the show in October 2023 after accusing him of being "abusive" towards her.

The probe upheld six of 17 complaints against the Italian dancer, but not did not find he had physically abused the actress. The pro dancer insists he was a "strict teacher", but was never a bully.

The former Strictly pro is now set to return to UK TV screens for the first time since leaving the BBC show last summer. He is set to feature on the upcoming season of Celebrity Hunted, which begins on Sunday (January 5).

Speaking about the past year, Giovanni told the Mirror: "I'm not going to lie, there were dark moments in terms of, you know, this is finished, this is the end of my career. That was one of my down moments. Sorry for my language but 2024 can f**k off. I've been looking forward to seeing the back of it."

The BBC apologised to Amanda in September after its investigation upheld complaints of verbal bullying and harassment. Addressing the complaints about him, Giovanni says: "Even with that I was like, I need to be a better man. I have to.

"Every time she came out with another interview I was always maintaining a calm inside. Trust me, it wasn't easy, there were dark times. But I know what I did – that kept me calm, because I knew the truth from the beginning. I was expecting and