Amanda Abbington has spoken out for the first time since the BBC concluded its investigation into former Strictly Come Dancing professional Giovanni Pernice.
A probe was launched after Abbington claimed to have been “abused” and “bullied” by the star.
On Monday, September 30, the BBC released a statement where it revealed the conclusion of their investigation into the claims Abbington made about Pernice which read: “The BBC has now concluded its review into the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice.
“We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken.
“It is a great shame if this hasn’t been the case for everyone who has appeared on the show. We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.
“At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important.
“The BBC heard from a number of individuals in making its findings. We want to thank them for participating. The BBC has already taken extensive steps to enhance our duty of care for everyone on the show and a full note of these steps is published alongside this statement”.
There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld.
Since the findings, both Abbington and Pernice released statements where they admitted to being relieved the investigation was over, but both had different opinions on the outcome.
On Wednesday evening, Abbington described her time in the rehearsal room in a BBC interview, and she said she “lost all sense of reality”.
Abbington claimed that she was subjected to abuse from Pernice away from the cameras and claimed there was “ongoing litany of being verbally abused” by Pernice and a 35-minute “rant” at her, including name-calling.
“There were pockets of time where we got on and it was ok, which was wrong-footing for me because when you’re in that room you never knew where you were from one minute to the next and it can make you shut down. I shut down in that room and I was called ‘mad’ and ‘unstable’.”
Speaking about two situations which left her distressed, the former Sherlock star added: “There were two allegations of inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature. They were upheld and one of them was physical and one was verbal.
“I think the cameras went in quite soon after that. This wasn’t an isolated incident and I know it had happened before to other contestants.”
As well as Abbington, several other of Pernice’s former partners came forward to speak about their time with the Italian professional, with Abbington explaining: “We just wanted to make sure we weren’t on our own thinking this had only happened to us because we all have said the same thing.
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“It wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t what the others were going through in other rooms. We wanted to connect with each other.
“We all said the same thing, it was managing a room and having to look after our own mental and physical well-being within that room.”
