BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas wants to 'move on' as she speaks out after report

Shirley Ballas hopes "everyone can move on" from the Strictly Come Dancing scandal as she addressed her own bullying hell. The show's head judge has expressed her support for the outcomes of the BBC's recent investigation and backed the way producers have handled issues.

The BBC One dance contest was rocked by alleged misconduct claims, with Graziano Di Prima dropped from the show after alleged behaviour towards Zara McDermott, while Amanda Abbington and others complained about his teaching methods.

This week, the BBC said that it has taken the claims "very seriously" and that it had "upheld some, but not all" of Amanda's complaints and issued her an apology.

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In a statement, the broadcaster said: "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."

Commenting on the BBC's report at a book event on Tuesday (October 1) Shirley said: "I don't condone bullying I've been through it myself. So if things aren't right or need addressing, I feel for the person that wants them addressed. And I think that's a big, important part that everybody gets to say their thing. But now the investigation is over and everybody can move on."

She added to the Mirror: "The eight years I've been on the show, it's been great safeguarding. I've always felt taken care of when the bullying got really bad.

"I was getting hand-delivered letters and one person was drawing a coffin saying ‘Die, you b****’. Strictly were 100% supportive, so my experience on the show has been fantastic. I’m not from a TV world but I can only say that I’ve received much better care from Strictly than I ever received in my own industry."

The full statement from the BBC said: "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."

The statement 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."