Former Strictly professional Kristina Rihanoff weighs in on ‘distressing’ misconduct probes as she questions vetting process and teaching experience of current pro dancers

Former Strictly Come Dancing professor Kristina Rihanoff has spoken out about the “shocking” misconduct investigations currently plaguing the show.

The 46-year-old Russian dancer, who starred in Strictly from 2009 to 2015, shared her thoughts on Graziano Di Prima’s sacking and her investigation into Giovanni Pernice.

Graziano was sacked after five years on Strictly following claims he punched and kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott. It came after Amanda Abbington claimed Giovanni had ‘bullied’ her during rehearsals.

Kristina told Lorraine on Wednesday that the screening process for the experience and character of potential professionals was strict when she was on the show.

However, she was concerned that those procedures were no longer as thorough and questioned the teaching skills of the show’s current professional dancers.

“All of these situations are very painful to read about now for many Strictly fans, and for someone who has worked on the series for eight years, for me,” said Kristina.

‘It’s very disturbing, it’s very bad. That statement from Zara was heartbreaking for me as a woman. That she actually suffered so much stress and abuse.’

Kristina said that when she applied for the show in the 2000s, she went through an extensive selection process.

The dancer flew in from the US to be interviewed on camera for 45 minutes, where she had to demonstrate her teaching method for the Cha Cha Cha and the Waltz, using a runner as a fake student.

Kristina, who is engaged to her former celebrity partner Ben Cohen, then returned to America and filed a huge amount of paperwork detailing her certifications in various dance styles, as well as her teaching credentials and character profiles.

“I don’t think this process exists anymore,” she said.

When she was hired for the show, she already had 10 years of experience as a dance teacher. According to her, there is something missing in the current cast.

Kristina said, “All the pros from my years on the show, we all came from competitive backgrounds. We all taught — and had been teaching for a while — so we had that experience of teaching people.”

She said that while some of the professionals currently on the show may be amazing dancers, the job is mainly about teaching in a way that a celebrity can understand and help them flourish.

“That’s the main job, not that you can stand on your head and do cartwheels in a group setting,” she added.

“That’s all well and good, but ultimately it’s about teaching ability. And I think some of the professors, who are still very young, probably don’t have enough teaching experience.”

After months of being bombarded with calls from agents begging their clients for a spot on the Saturday night favorite, Stefania Aleksander, the show’s longtime booker, typically signs up at least six or seven celebrities, whose names inevitably end up in the public domain.

This time around, however, it was quite a battle, the Mail reported on Tuesday, despite it being Strictly’s 20th anniversary year.

Insiders at the company say they are having trouble recruiting women, especially the most senior ones. This is a first in the company’s rich history, as investigations into employee behavior have so far yielded no results.

‘It’s usually the women who are more into it,’ said a television executive associated with the show. ‘Not only is it a chance to dress up, but appearing on Strictly is much more beneficial to women’s careers than men’s.

“But rumor has it that it’s not exactly a piece of cake, so they’re a lot harder to get hold of.”

Sources within the organisation say the show is in a ‘collapse’ and top brass from both Strictly and the BBC held meetings over the weekend to discuss how to survive the scandal.

One said: ‘There’s been a lot of talk about how to handle this, but the biggest problem is this year’s cast… There’s been a lot of swearing and a lot of frustration.’

The scale of the crisis is illustrated by the fact that – around this time last year – Zara, former newsreader Angela Rippon and TV presenter Angela Scanlon had already signed up for the show. Finalist Layton Williams had also agreed to appear and Les Dennis was about to do so. All of these names had leaked into the public domain, but this year not a single celebrity woman’s name has been mentioned.

“It’s starting to get a little bit dire,” the insider says. “It was supposed to be amazing this year, it’s such a big series. There’s a lot of pressure.”

In a bid to generate more interest and make the show more attractive to potential candidates, the BBC yesterday unveiled a three-point plan to make rehearsals safer.

From now on, a production employee will be present during the training sessions, both participants and professionals will receive additional support from welfare producers and the production team and crew will receive ‘refresher training’.

The move was announced after Zara broke her silence on the scandal, in which Graziano not only punched and kicked her, but also repeatedly verbally abused her.