Why is Giovanni Pernice not on Strictly? Italian pro missing as BBC show returns

He made a controversial exit from the show last year and Giovanni Pernice will play no part in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing.

In his first year of being pro on Strictly, Giovanni made the final with celebrity partner Georgia May Foote and then went onto also reach the finale with Debbie McGee and Faye Tozer, before finally winning alongside Rose Ayling-Ellis. Last year, Italian dancer GIovanni was paired with Amanda Abbington, and it looked like his partnership with the Silk actress was going to be a successful one, with them getting impressive scores and comments from the judges and avoiding the bottom two.

However, there time in the competition came to an abrupt end when, after missing one of the live shows, Amanda quit Strictly and has since made allegations of 'bullying' against Giovanni, something he strongly denies and something which also prompted a BBC investigation, with him not on the Strictly pro line-up for 2024.

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He has still to publicly address not being in the show this year, with the BBC also not making any statement as to why he isn't

Responding to claims made by Amanda on Channel 4 News and Lorraine, Giovanni and his team released a statement which read: "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 until it concludes. We will continue to respect the integrity of this investigation and believe it is the right forum for this evidence to be reviewed."

Moving onto the most recent accusations made against Giovanni by Amanda, the reply added: "As part of the evidence-led review, the BBC have shared the allegations they have been able to substantiate with us. They do not resemble Amanda's latest allegations given to ITV, in any shape or form. We would urge people to wait for the review's conclusion and not pay heed to very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them."