The verdict of the investigation into former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour with Amanda Abbington has been confirmed by the BBC.
The broadcaster issued an apology to actress Abbington, 50, and upheld some of her complaints against Pernice, 33, but cleared him of the most serious allegations.
There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, the PA news agency understands.
In a statement, the corporation said it takes allegations of bullying and harassment ‘very seriously’ and that the review into Abbington’s complaints took time because of their complexity, and for ‘a rigorous and robust process’.
‘We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made,’ the statement read.
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‘We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.’
The statement added that the BBC production team did take steps to address issues at the time, but, ‘ultimately, these were not enough’.
The BBC’s statement after Giovanni Pernice investigation
The BBC’s statement in full 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.
‘Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards.
‘While competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyous and transformative experience.
‘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 to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.’
It continued: ‘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.’
Responding to the report, Abbington said in a statement: ‘As the BBC has indicated today in its statement, my decision to come forward and complain about Giovanni Pernice’s conduct towards me was not an easy thing to do.
‘In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I’ve been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being “mad and unstable”.
‘I’ve also received rape and murder threats and a bomb threat was sent to my place of work. My family and children have also been subjected to threats and intimidation.
‘Despite this vile abuse, I’ve never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint.
‘t’s not just a vindication for me, it’s a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing.
‘I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.
‘The BBC has invited me to meet with senior management and this is something I will now be considering.
‘This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were “not enough”.
‘What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they’ve promised, to ensure others don’t experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did.’
The chief content officer at the BBC said a number of complaints under its bullying and harassment policy were upheld, but said she was unable to go into further detail on the allegations made by Abbington about her time on Strictly.
Charlotte Moore told the BBC: ‘There were a number of complaints under our bullying and harassment policy, and a number of those complaints have been upheld. Not all of them, but a number of them have been upheld.
‘I’m not able to go into further detail on that, and there are very good reasons for that.
‘It’s probably worth me just laying out the confidentiality of a complaints process, which I think is absolutely integral to the complaints process, and confidentiality needs to be respected out of fairness to everybody involved.
‘But of course, we’re also trying to balance that with the desire to be open and to be transparent about the way our complaints processes work – and obviously in this case, there’s been lots of media speculation and lots of interest.
‘So I think it’s really important that we’re as open and transparent as we can be about that process, which is why we’ve issued the statement.’
BBC director general Tim Davie also previously apologised to Strictly contestants who had an experience that ‘hasn’t been wholly positive’, following a storm of negative stories about the culture and treatment of contestants on the flagship programme.
In August, it was claimed that Abbington had ‘handed in more bombshell messages’ to the BBC for the broadcaster’s probe, with sources claiming that Pernice was ‘on the brink of being cleared’ before the messages were provided.
The Italian dancer has since made a TV return on the Italian Dancing with the Stars, previously announcing to his followers on Instagram: ‘I can’t wait to get started and to get back to dancing for all of you! Thank you for all of your continued support!’
Prior to the results of the enquiry being revealed, Abbington took part in a bombshell interview with Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who competed on the same series with her last year.
During their conversation, the Sherlock star claimed that she recognised ‘red flags’ in Pernice ‘very early on’ when they started training together for the competition, describing his behaviour as ‘inappropriate, mean, nasty and bullying’.
Guru-Murthy claimed that he heard from ‘someone else’ that the dancer exhibited ‘humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature’, to which Abbington nodded, wiped away tears and replied: ‘Yeah.’
Abbington alleged that ‘50 hours of footage’ from her rehearsals with Pernice were ‘being blocked’, adding: ‘50 hours is a lot of footage, and a lot of time spent in a room that was toxic.’
In response to the actress’ interview, a spokesperson for Pernice told Metro.co.uk on the night of Wednesday, July 24: ‘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.
‘We would urge people to wait for the review’s conclusion and not to pay heed to these very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them.’
Following her interview with Guru-Murthy, the following day on Thursday, Abbington was interviewed by Christine Lampard on Lorraine.
While in the ITV studio, she alleged that she complained about her training with Pernice on the third day of her first week on the BBC series.
‘I’ve got texts to the producer on day three saying “This is awful, he hates me. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I’m trying my best I promise you”,’ she said.
The Mr Selfridge star added: ‘It started very early on and when it started to happen I’d shut down and recognise those red flags.’
Addressing Abbington’s complaints about Pernice’s behaviour on Strictly, a BBC spokesperson previously 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.’
It was alleged by a source close to Pernice that he was in possession of a ‘bombshell’ dossier that ‘proves Amanda is a liar’, which is said to have included a 28-minute long audio of him in conversation with his former Strictly partner.
His team reportedly claimed that the audio was evidence that he was supportive of her, while there are also allegedly WhatsApp messages that showed the actress expressing her fondness for Pernice.
It has been claimed that Abbington told Pernice that if she were him she ‘would have thrown me out of the window by now’ and referred to herself as a ‘nightmare’.
Prior to the verdict in the BBC investigation examining Pernice being announced, it emerged that Abbington’s parents, Patsy, 75, and John, 77, had spoken out about the dancer, admitting that they sympathised with him.
Speaking to MailOnline, John said: ‘I’d feel sorry for him if Amanda wasn’t the one involved in this.
‘Like other dancers on Strictly, he was put in a situation where he was expected to train people when he’d not been taught how to train.’
John shared that he is ‘worrying’ every morning when he wakes up and every night when he goes to bed, as Patsy added: ‘She has apologised to us because of what we’re going through. It’s been hard.’
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