BBC Strictly's Giovanni Pernice claims he 'never had an argument' with Amanda Abbington

Giovanni Pernice has broken his silence on the Strictly Come Dancing controversy involving actress Amanda Abbington, who accused him of "bullying" her during rehearsals. The Italian professional dancer decided to "set the record straight", sharing his version of events in a candid interview with stand-in presenter Christine Lampard on ITV's Lorraine.

He didn't hold back as he used the platform to convey his side of the story. While acknowledging that his training approach might have been "strict", he claimed: "Me and Amanda never had an argument."

Giovanni seemed perplexed by some of the allegations presented to BBC officials, firmly denying any claims of being "aggressive" towards Amanda.

He admitted that he may have shown signs of "frustration" at times, but explained to Christine that it was because his celebrity partner was "brilliant" and a highly "talented dancer" whom he wanted to push to reach her "full potential". The matter was examined at a senior level within the broadcasting corporation, and the complaints procedure found that verbal bullying and harassment were substantiated, but allegations of physical aggression were not.

The Sherlock actress declined the BBC's apology, criticised the review as "vindication" of her complaint, and expressed hope that others would now feel "more confident" that their cases would be taken seriously, reports the Mirror.

Giovanni revealed he felt "relieved" after it was determined that Amanda's claims of him being "threatening and abusive" were unfounded. Christine asked the pro dancer: "So where was the disconnect? What happened here? So for her to say that you were 'a bully', you're clearly not thinking that are you?"

Giovanni clarified: "First of all the investigation didn't find me to be a bully and that's exactly why I feel relieved now and it's important to put that straight because 'bully' is a big word."

Discussing his time on Strictly and relationship with Amanda, the dancer reflected: "At that time, and as I said before, everything was great. All I had was 'Giovanni you're an amazing teacher' and 'Giovanni you're great' and then Amanda said she left because of 'health conditions'."

Reflecting further, Giovanni shared details about their last communication prior to the controversy escalating: "And the last message I had with Amanda was 'please let me know how this goes, I want to help you. So the last message I sent to her was 'I will fund for you a doctor, please let's sort this out because it is more important than any steps.' This was the last message and last conversation with Amanda."