Giovanni has quit Strictly

[IndependentUndefeated]

Giovanni Pernice 'QUITS' Strictly: Under-fire pro 'ends his eight year stint' after 'torrid' five months saw three of ex dance partners meet to discuss their 'difficult' experiences with him | Daily Mail Online

I don't know if I am surprised or not, given the allegations against him. But - BBC are backing him and nothing was even investigated I don't think?

It looks like just a rumour at this stage but if it does turn out to be true I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s got other things going on outside Strictly and he has been doing it for a long time. I will be very disappointed though, I love watching him!

I think he should lay low this year and not be one of the celeb dancers then come back next year. Regardless of hearsay, no one actually knows what happened and he is very popular with audiences.

Gio is amazing - really hope he doesn't quit!

It seems multiple formal complaints have now been made so the BBC are obliged to investigate.

Papers now reporting they're investigating Serious Workplace Misconduct.

Lie low surely

This, it’s not on what’s happening re Strictly contestant last yr

There are at least three contestants that seem to be making similar allegations Librarybooker

It feels very much like a witch hunt. He's a hard taskmaster because he wants to win - who knows what else went on but everyone should expect to be massively put through their paces!

LW's beef should be with the producers pairing her with Gio as they were looking for max drama, not him himself!

They're not alleging he's a hard taskmaster though - there's nothing to indicate that they didn't expect to work hard or indeed that they didn't go on to work incredibly hard (some at least appear to have been doing more hours than your average Olympic athlete in training). They're alleging that he behaved outside the boundardies of acceptable professional behaviour and maybe we should be asking what acceptable behaviour looks like for a dancing teacher? LW reported being in tears every day. Surely that doesn't sound healthy or professional? You can achieve excellence without reducing someone to tears every day. You can be a hard taskmaster without reducing someone to tears every day. You can correct without intimidating or installing fear in your pupils to the extent they're reporting symptoms of trauma.

Artem was like this as well but he left before it all came on top.

How do you know that Sunsetlullaby?

Any other workplace he would be investigated, I’m glad he is here too. Just because he’s a good dancer, or audiences like him, so what? Employees everywhere still have certain standards to uphold.

Giovanni fans (not meaning here) seem to have decided he must be above suspicion of anything because they enjoy drooling over him and the nastiness directed to Amanda Abbington in particular has been awful.
Given three women have spoken about similar behaviour from him I would have hoped there would be understanding that it warrants proper investigation. It’s sad that even women don’t believe other women.

The testimony of one charismatic, popular man is worth more than those of three unpopular, demonised women. A bit like in Saudi Arabia.

Someone I know on the show. I think they are all scared to speak up. As soon as one does some of the others feel a little braver to also mention the issues they had. I can see why people don't want to speak up because so many people don't believe them or think they should have sucked it up because its a tough job.

That's sad Sunsetlullaby - but yeah, I totally get it. The way these women are being talked about in some of the Strictly FB groups is horrible. All being called workshy losers who couldn't take a bit if hard work. Television is one of the most demanding professions there is and you don't get anywhere at all if you're not prepared to work pretty damn hard.

Another allegation reported by the Sun, from a former dance partner - https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/28030056/giovanni-pernice-korina-travis-strictly/

"I’ve known him for years as a fellow competitor and he has done horrendous things to me. I will not speak about my experiences with him but I’m glad the world is seeing him for who he truly is. I’ll leave it at that.”

And Rose now being reported to have said she believes the allegations made by others. Sad situation.

Did anyone else see Stacey Dooley on breakfast tv yesterday when she was asked about this?

She said she didn't know Giovanni or have first hand info about his treatment if his partners BUT she felt it was brave of the women to speak up and wasn't it a shame that women are not believed when speaking about abuse.

I felt she totally believed them

Because he's good looking and a good dancer, people believe him. How would it make sense for all his female partners to be workshy lazy nightmares? He's the common denominator. He could probably shit on the stage and people would still say he's amazing.

The competitive dance world is absolutely toxic right from grass roots level, so it's hardly surprising.

I’m so glad I found this thread because in lots of different places, people are falling over themselves to defend this person.
There are several different people complaining now, plus quite a few other previous contestants who do not interact with him anymore.
Clearly something is going on!
All these women are used to working hard, the show business is hard work, it’s ridiculous that they’re being accused of making this up because they are lazy and were surprised at the level of training required… I believe them

Didn't see the programme heydiddlysquat but read some of the articles about what Stacey said. I do think it helps counter all this awfulness about the women just being weak and unable to tolerate a bit of dance show training. If they'd alleged physical or sexual misconduct from the offset (I realise Amanda has apparently now said Gio stamped on her foot) I think there would have been a different reaction but I suspect it's mostly verbal abuse (a lot of shouting beyond what's needed to teach dancing) and because of that people don't think it's in the same league. But in my own experience and having looked at various bits of research (which I can no longer find again annoyingly), excessive shouting and general explosiveness can and does cause trauma very quickly. Especially if you're ill/exhausted when it happens as your ability to tolerate stress is greatly reduced.

Agree he's the common denominator. Do you have experience of the dance world? I have none at all but have read some interesting research about it being quite a toxic environment.

Yeah, it's depressing in some of the Facebook groups. Im surprised so many people are so invested in defending someone they don't know. You have to wonder if they actually like a good excuse to attack women they see as "weak". I believe them too.

People should be neither falling over themselves to defend him nor falling over themselves to condemn him. I'm a great believer in due process. If someone is accused of something, they're entitled to a proper investigation. They're also entitled to defend themselves.