Giovanni Pernice reunites with Strictly Come Dancing co-star in the wake of Amanda Abbington drama
Giovanni Pernice has reunited with a Strictly Come Dancing pro, just weeks after the results of the BBC probe into his conduct with his 2023 Strictly partner Amanda Abbington were published. In an Instagram post, Giovanni revealed that he’d enjoyed a reunion with his former co-star Lauren Oakley as they shared a sweet embrace.
In the photo, Giovanni and Lauren could be seen giving each other a big hug as they smiled from ear to ear. “The best surprise visit today,” wrote Giovanni, 34. Meanwhile, Lauren shared a similar snap, though hers showed the Italian dancer kissing her on the cheek. “It’s been a minute,” she added.
This isn’t the first time that Lauren has shown her support for her ex colleague. Back in June she attended Giovanni and Anton Du Beke’s live show and cheered them on from the crowd.
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Sharing a photo from her seat in the audience, Lauren held up the programme for the show, called Anton & Giovanni Together. Captioning the snap, she simply chose a series of heart emojis.
The pair’s recent reunion comes after the BBC released its findings into Giovanni’s conduct after Amanda made a number of complaints against him. As it released its report, the BBC commented that it had upheld “some, but not all, of the complaints made”.
The BBC also offered an apology to Amanda and thanked her for coming forward and taking part, with Amanda speaking out following the publication. “Despite this vile abuse, I’ve never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint,” she said.
“It’s not just a vindication for me; it’s a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.”
Giovanni also took to social media to speak out about the report results in which he said that the past six months had been “difficult”. “Today I'm happy because at the beginning there were very very serious allegations thrown out at me but as of today, none of the serious allegations have been upheld. All the threatening, abusive, harassment behaviour allegations have not been upheld,” he explained.
While Giovanni isn’t on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, he is currently appearing on Ballando con le Stelle which is the Italian version of the show. He has also given a career update in which he declared that he’s “back baby” as he promoted his 2025 UK tour.
