Giovanni Pernice embraces with Strictly Come Dancing star after 'surprise visit'
Giovanni Pernice has reunited with former Strictly Come Dancing co-star Lauren Oakley on his return to the UK. The professional dancer has been hosting dance classes with his company Ballando in his native Italy.
Splitting his time between the UK and Italy, Giovanni is currently partaking in the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars, Ballando con le Stelle. The former Strictly professional was subject to allegations about his behaviour in the training room by former celebrity dance partner Amanda Abbington. Amanda pulled out of the BBC One show last year citing “personal reasons” and later claimed she was subject to a “toxic environment” and “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying”.
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In a statement released by the BBC it was stated: ''We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.''
The statement continued: ''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 PA news agency understands there were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld
Despite his departure from Strictly following a seven year stint, Giovanni has remained friends with some of his colleagues. Taking to Instagram yesterday, October 20, the 32-year-old posted an image of him and dancer Lauren Oakley embracing in a hug. He captioned the image "The best surprise visit today" alongside a loving emoji.
Lauren Oakley also posted an image to her Instagram stories with Giovanni hugging her and kissing her on the head. She captioned the image "It's been a minute" with a white heart emoji., The pair reunited during Giovanni's latest dance classes in London.
Ballando's Instagram account shared a picture of the pair and said: "The best surprise visit today," which Giovanni reshared to his Instagram Story and tagged Lauren.
In a career update issued at the beginning of the month, Giovanni announced he and Anton Du Beke will be heading on a new tour together. The tour called 'Anton & Giovanni Together Again' will be touring the UK in June and July 2025. This includes a show at the Liverpool Empire on June 26.