Amanda Abbington and Strictly.

[PriamFarrl]

I never watch Strictly, but it seems that her being on it is causing some conflict.

I did a quick look but couldn’t see a thread.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/strictly-come-dancing-fans-divided-27466760?fbclid=IwAR1iNqoQHvU6tlsap3W1iWz7oG81Sp0Qimp81rzzd5XAU9fB4NLm_LgE47w_aem_AWkW94vOg0i7vw4ncasDUMNwbDACoxFIhz_Dsisy4LT9Nv0k-aEB-k7pqbT5hptMzeU#ll00z8fhy5yfgk5qz3

If she's been diagnosed with PTSD as alleged, then it won't be just from dance rehearsals, will it. It will be from something specific that happened. None of this is public anyway atm so no one can actually say what happened.

You have no idea what happened! What happened to "when women speak, believe them"!?
Poor Amanda, it was clear that something went wrong with her relationship with Giovanni considering she didn't mention him when thanking everyone else on the show.

Maybe it wasn't Giovanni, but something must have happened that we didn't see. I believe her.

I believe her.

I believe her too. Giovanni must have had something to do with her reason for leaving if she didn't mention him in her post.

Something completely random could have happened that we know nothing about.

Totally speculative example- a crime was committed that BBC could/should have protected her from. I’m remembering a singer who disappeared from a reality tv show and years later revealed she’d been assaulted by someone unconnected to the show.

There could have been a H&S incident.
All sorts.

I mean, I’m always shocked how intimate they get- I simply couldn’t do it. If someone was unsympathetically rushing me into being grabbed, lifted, stripped backstage for costume changes…

If I was having a bad day and someone pushed it, it could escalate.

Klaxon- total speculation!! Just an example of the kind of thing that I don’t think TV is particularly respectful of.

Indeed.

There are lots of people in the rehearsals - not just Gio but other dancers, choreographers, technical crew, production staff, plus the possibility of unauthorised people getting in. It takes very little imagination to come up with all sorts of things one of them could have done, or should have done and didn't.

Maybe she was physically or sexually assaulted. Many people have jumped to that because it's a common experience for women.

Or maybe there was an organised hate campaign or vote rigging campaign and someone in the rehearsal room let slip they'd been involved.

Or maybe there was a warning about a stalker, insufficient security measures were put in place and the stalker got in.

Or maybe the production company wanted footage of them dancing on one of those window cleaner hoists, she slipped and almost fell 30 storeys.

Maybe a lighting rig exploded.

Endless possibilities.

Or maybe it was 'only' workplace bullying. And, if so, that's unacceptable behaviour too.

Wasn't the singer Duffy abducted? Was she the reality show one?

I forget the name of the reality show one but pretty sure it wasn't Duffy. Horrible case. They'd put her in a hotel - away from the other contestants I think - and she was assaulted in her room (possibly by a member of the hotel staff?).

Bloody hell. That's a lot of speculation!!

Maybe if it's anyone's actual business, she will let them know?

My point is that it could be any number of things, related to any number of people. So it's ridiculous to try and guess.

And I agree - none of our business.

This was the reality show case I was thinking of. But I had to scroll down 2 pages of google to find it because there have been so many others.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/15/lucy-spraggan-the-real-reason-i-dropped-out-of-the-x-factor

So while what happened on Strictly in this particular instance is not our business and not something to speculate on, what is our - everyone's - business is if TV programmes are still treating women like shit (or allowing/enabling/failiing to prevent individuals doing so).

Despite case after case after case that should make them address their failings.

Oh dear, I didn't post the link to encourage speculation or to make out this was all a bit over the top.

It was more out of concern.

I cant imagine someone in the public eye would take this step unless it was something serious. Knowing that the media both newspapers and social media would be all over it.

Otherwise I am sure everyone, including AA herself, would be of the opinion just walk away from it as something that didn't work out.

I believe her.

Obviously we have no idea. But in general, when you go through something upsetting or traumatic it can often take a while to understand what actually happened or what you might want to do about it, once you do. I imagine when you add in a situation under a national spotlight with intense public interest it might only make that more complex.

She has also spoken about bullying in childhood, suicidal ideation and the trauma around her fiancé’s illness. So it wouldn’t be too much of a leap that something happened during her time on Strictly that was cumulative or triggered a recurrence of previous illness. So it could be a duty of care issue around a reality TV show - how many times does that have to happen before it’s taken more seriously? Her pro dance partner was known to be extremely demanding as noted by previous partners so it could well be that the rehearsal room was not the most supportive of environments before taking into account any potential incident(s) by person or persons unknown. I’ve no idea how many people are at rehearsals apart from the pro and the celeb - presumably camera and sound technician, are there directors or producers or runners present from the BBC? I’ve also no idea if there are other dance coaches, fitness coaches, physios or other medical folk in hand. Musicians and costume designers floating in and out?

All we know is that something appears to have happened that distressed Amanda to the point she left the show. I hope she gets to the bottom of it and if anyone needs holding to account, it is done with transparency and things are fixed so it can’t happen to anyone rise.

I posted this on another thread

The stupid cow is apparently Rose who posted it on her socials then deleted it.

This looks more complicated than it seemed at first in terms of why Amanda decided to leave the show. I would say that Giovanni is known to be very competitive and I assume that the organisers of the show thought they were similarly anxious to win. The problem is that there are plenty of people who wasn't the show to fail, as well as those who want it to succeed.

@GrimDamnFanjo what relevance is that video? I’m not being snippy, I can’t work out what I’m supposed to think about it. Why have you posted it?

It's far too short and small for me to work out wha is going on.

And why, on the feminism board, is somebody being called a 'stupid cow'.

In the video Giovanni calls the person behind the camera (Rose, according to the PP) a "stupid cow".

Ah, could only hear the scream so didn't realise it was a quote.

Apologies - I posted the video because if you take it at face value, I don't think women should be spoken about like that in the workplace.
If Gio regularly spoke about his partners like that I can see why there is an issue here.

Ah, thanks for explaining! Now I know.

I thought you were calling someone a Stupid cow. I tried all ways of understanding it 😂

I imagine a story will be made available at some point, that’s acceptable to all parties. I wonder whether AA’s previous experience and tendency to perfectionism leads her to refuse to accept some behaviours an attitudes and it all ends up in a sorry mess of a stand off.

It’s a failure all round.

It is strange that in tv land where on the surface they give this appearance of total committment to good behaviour, blah, blah, but off screen it seems as an industry to be a cess pit.

Women especially must have to become very thick skinned.

I feel sorry for all of them, whether in front or behind the camera.