Amanda Abbington will soon learn the ruling of the investigation she triggered after complaining her Strictly partner Giovanni Pernice bullied her in training.
But regardless of the outcome, bosses are said to be furious at the actress, who they now believe is encouraging other former contestants to engage with her lawyers over their time on the programme.
Recently, there’s speculation she’s been prompting former Strictly contestants to contact London law firm Carter-Ruck to find more allegations of a toxic environment on the show.
One BBC insider said: ‘Amanda seems to be stopping at nothing to make sure that a dark cloud is left over Strictly.
‘She seems to have a real issue with the show. She has been open about not enjoying her time, but why spoil it for everyone else?
‘It’s not looking like there is a smoking gun in her complaint about Giovanni, so now she is getting others to come forward and then later it appears in the Press so the row keeps going and going.’
Ms Abbington, 52, is understood to have contacted actress Laila Rouass to encourage her to speak to her lawyers following an incident in 2009 when her partner Anton Du Beke, now a judge on the show, described her as ‘looking like a p***’ after she had a spray tan.
Strictly staff are outraged and say that much of the behaviour that is not as serious as Graziano Di Prima hitting and kicking Zara McDermott also risks diluting actual complaints.
One said: ‘How is Amanda whipping up incidents of a few raised voices or something that happened 15 years ago helping the real issues of bullying?’
Meanwhile, the Mail can also today reveal that those aware of the details of the evidence-led probe into Mr Pernice say they believe the allegations are unlikely to be found proven.
It paves the way for the professional dancer, who has strongly denied any misconduct towards Ms Abbington, to be cleared three months after the inquiry began.
With judgement said to be just days away, Ms Abbington took the unusual step of speaking to The Sun on Sunday regarding Mr Pernice’s alleged behaviour.
Her critics believe that she did the interview ‘to once again damage’ the Italian dancer as he is widely expected to be cleared of bullying her.
Ms Abbington, who told the newspaper she suffered from PTSD as a result of the show earlier this year, claims Mr Pernice was ‘abusive, cruel and mean.’ However, she didn’t give any examples of his behaviour.
She said that she had made the complaint because ‘I couldn’t sit back and let him do that to other people’, despite knowing she would suffer a ‘backlash’.
She added: ‘I would not have been able to live with myself for the sake of future people going on that show.’
Mr Pernice, 33, hit back at her interview, with his spokesman telling the Mail: ‘The BBC has shared allegations from the inquiry with Giovanni, who has cooperated fully. None of the allegations carried in the Sun on Sunday are included in any shape or form.
‘Giovanni refutes these allegations and denies any accusations of abusive or threatening behaviour. He has provided substantive evidence to the investigation and he remains fully confident of clearing his name.’
One source said: ‘Amanda clearly feels very hard done by in all of this and is getting ahead of things in case the ruling doesn’t go as she wants.’
The fallout is set to rumble on this week as the professional dancers begin their training for the new series today.
And tomorrow, BBC director-general Tim Davie is expected to publicly address the row when the corporation’s annual report is released.
Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Di Prima was fired for gross misconduct after kicking and hitting Ms McDermott. His sacking was prompted by a group of production staff presenting BBC chiefs with a video of him assaulting her.
Previous complaints had been made to the Corporation about his verbal abuse and he was warned twice, yet he was invited on the post-show tour and was unveiled as a member of the professional dancer cast for the forthcoming series.
Since then old footage of former pros James Jordan and Brendan Cole being abrasive towards their celebrity partners has re-emerged online.
In one clip Mr Jordan is seen threatening to drag actress Georgina Bouzova along the floor and scream at her if she didn’t stand on her left leg. Meanwhile Mr Cole was bellowing at actress Claire King back in 2006.
Pro dancer Nadiya Bychkova has also made a complaint about the show to BBC bosses.
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Source: Los Angeles Times1
