Giovanni Pernice’s former dance partner has admitted to trying to’strangle’ the Strictly Come Dancing star during a training session.
Nicola Roberts, who did not compete in the main competition but did participate in the 2022 Christmas special, revealed that Giovanni, 33, occasionally drove her crazy.
The 38-year-old singer-songwriter and Girls Aloud member was one of six celebs who appeared on the programme that year, which appeared to be more heated behind the scenes than most spectators expected.
Speaking to The One Show at the time, she said: ‘My process is quite slow. When you’re in a band, you have weeks to perfect a two-hour show, so there’ll be certain numbers that you pick up quickly.
‘[Sometimes there are] numbers that might take a good couple of weeks to really sink in, and that’s my process, that’s how I’ve learned over the years.
According to sources, Nicola stated that Giovanni would yell ‘again, again, again’ during practice sessions in order to attain ‘perfection’, as the Something Kinda Oooh singer described.
She explained: ‘I don’t necessarily like the learning process because I lose concentration and Gio is very “again, again, again”. But I was grateful because when I finally got to do the waltz I was prepared.
‘And as much as during the rehearsal process I might have wanted to strangle him, I was glad that when I left the ballroom I thought I had done a good job of the waltz,’ she then said, revealing her gratitude.
Her words have emerged following allegations earlier this week that Amanda Abbington, who was paired with Giovanni on the 2023 season of Strictly Come Dancing, asked to re-watch footage of the couple practicing.
Amanda, 51, abandoned the race on her own for ‘personal reasons’ after impressing the judges in the early weeks, and has allegedly sought legal counsel about the’very heated’ training sessions.
A source told The Sun that Amanda was left ‘broken and saddened by the whole experience’ of participating on Strictly last year, and that she has taken ‘months to get over what she went through’.
‘The BBC has received a request for the footage they hold of Amanda and Giovanni. It is known as a data subject access request.’
They claimed that the actress was ‘really stressed by having to spend eight hours a day with Giovanni’, and ‘spent a lot of time crying’.
Giovanni spoke about ‘positivity’ on Thursday morning in response to rumours that Amanda was seeking legal counsel as he launched a new perfume line.
He said: ‘My fragrance Vita (Italian for “life”) is just that, a celebration of life. Of positivity when there is obviously so much around us which can be a cause for the opposite.’
After exiting the competition, the Miss Selfridge actress wrote on Instagram: ‘It was an incredible pleasure working with my fellow contenders; they are lovely.
‘[They are] hardworking and talented group of people who I love and who I will miss seeing every Friday and Saturday and competing alongside.’
Source My Celebrity Life.