Giovanni Pernice admits he thought the Strictly bullying row would be ‘the end of his career’ as he reflects on ‘dark moments’ after Amanda Abbington’s accusations

Giovanni Pernice has admitted he thought the Strictly Come Dancing bullying row would be the ‘end of his career’ as he reflected on the ‘dark moments’ he faced.

The professional dancer, 34, was forced to leave the British show last year amid an investigation into his conduct after he was accused of abuse by his former celebrity partner, Amanda Abbington.

Giovanni was cleared of ten of Amanda’s sixteen allegations when the BBC investigation concluded in September, but remained absent for the current edition of the series.

The BBC report cleared him of the most serious allegations of physical aggression, but confirmed some of verbal bullying and intimidation.

Looking back on the year, he said The mirror in a new interview: ‘I’m not going to lie, there were dark moments in terms of, you know, this is over, this is the end of my career. That was one of my down moments.

‘Sorry for my language, but 2024 can hurry. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the back of it.’

Commenting on Amanda’s claims, he continued: “Every time she came out with a new interview, I always felt calm inside. Believe me, it wasn’t easy, there were dark times.’

Giovanni’s new comments come after he proved he has not lost his competitive edge following his break from British TV, when he edged out fellow Strictly pro Kai Widdrinton in a bid to win Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted.

Celebrity Hunted sees a group of stars, AKA Fugitives, on the run across mainland Britain for 14 days as they are pursued by the Hunters – a hand-picked team of police and military personnel.

Hunters have access to all the celebrity’s personal information and use the ‘powers of the state’ to locate and capture it, including cyber forensics technology, ANPR, CCTV, helicopters, drones, dogs and call tracking.

They even use social media to bribe members of the public or captured participants with cash rewards in exchange for information about the whereabouts of the celebrities.

Those who manage to evade capture for 14 days must reach a designated ‘extraction’ point on the final day before winning £100,000 for Stand Up To Cancer.

The Strictly pros are among six celebrity pairings taking part in the exciting game show, but Giovanni was prepared to throw Kai under the bus to win the show himself.

He said: “It’s exciting to be back on British TV. It’s been too long!’

‘It was super stressful. Kai and I are the best of friends, but I’m very competitive and he’s not on the same level when it comes to competitiveness.

“You’ll see we broke up. I thought, “I want to win this,” but Kai was thinking about where we could stay, which was fun.

‘He said, “It’s cool here, it’s relaxed, it’s warm, let’s eat.” And I thought, “I don’t need to eat. I don’t want to be warm. I want to escape the Hunters!”

Giovanni explained that Kai’s slower pace nearly got them caught by the Hunter’s a few times.

He said: “There were a few times we almost got caught. So I told him, ‘We have to split up because I really have to win this.’

Kai graciously agreed, hoping the plan would double their chances of winning.

The pair turned to Celebrity Hunted alumni and fellow Strictly pro Katya Jones for help as she visited the final season of the show with her Olympian best friend Aimee Fuller.

Recalling her advice, Kai said, “She said you basically have to be on it all the time because you never know where the Hunters are. They could be anywhere.”

As well as his Hunted performance, Giovanni also played a major role in Strictly’s 20th anniversary special and was praised for his groundbreaking dance with deaf partner Rose Ayling Ellis in 2021.

The pair stunned the crowd when halfway through their performance to Clean Bandit’s Symphony, the music stopped but the dance continued.

The special performance was dubbed the ‘greatest dance of all time’ on Strictly.

And after a tumultuous few months, Giovanni ended 2024 on a high as he won the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing and began a new romance with dance partner Bianca Guaccero.

The pair confirmed their romance in November, with Bianca claiming at the time that she ‘had trouble believing in true love’ until she met him.

Bianca also stated that she had “never felt so safe and loved” as she did with the dancer, who is almost ten years younger than her.

Meanwhile, it has reportedly been revealed that Amanda has turned down a huge cash offer to star in the upcoming series of CBB, for fear of being trolled online.

A source said The sun on Sunday: ‘Amanda decided to discreetly decline the offer because she felt so traumatized by the last reality TV competition she took part in.

“She couldn’t bear to put up with all the trolling she got when she complained about Giovanni, which made her feel like public enemy number one.

“Of course the compensation for participation would have been appreciated, but she just couldn’t handle it.”

The source added that Amanda has nothing against CBB and is a fan of the show herself.

MailOnline contacted Amanda’s representatives for comment.