Shirley Ballas has confessed she hopes ‘everyone can move on’ from the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ bullying scandal.

The head judge of the BBC show has expressed her support for the outcomes of the BBC’s recent investigation and backed the way producers have handled issues in the past.

Strictly was rocked by alleged misconduct claims, with Graziano Di Prima dropped from the show after allegedly being violent towards Zara McDermott, while Amanda Abbington and others have complained about Giovanni Pernice’s teaching methods.

Commenting on the BBC’s report at a book event on Tuesday, Shirley said: ‘I don’t condone bullying I’ve been through it myself.

‘So if things aren’t right or need addressing, I feel for the person that wants them addressed. And I think that’s a big, important part that everybody gets to say their thing. But now the investigation is over and everybody can move on.’

+7
View gallery

Shirley Ballas has urged everyone to ‘move on’ after the results of the Giovanni Pernice misconduct investigation while Amanda Abbington says she is considering further action against BBC

+7
View gallery

The Sherlock actress revealed she held a summit of other Strictly Come Dancing contestants in her own home to swap stories of treatment on the show during Newsnight on Wednesday

She added: ‘The eight years I’ve been on the show, it’s been great safeguarding. I’ve always felt taken care of when the bullying got really bad.’

This week, the BBC said that it has taken the claims ‘very seriously’, although just six of the 17 allegations made against the Giovanni have actually been upheld.

However Amanda has now said she is considering further action against the BBC as she spoke out about the investigation results during an interview on Newsnight on Wednesday.

The Sherlock actress revealed she held a summit of other Strictly Come Dancing contestants in her own home to swap stories of treatment on the show.

She said she and the other stars wept as they spoke of their experiences working with Giovanni.

In an interview with Victoria Derbyshire, Amanda described her time in the rehearsal room, where she said she ‘lost all sense of reality’.

She added she met up with other celebrities who were previously partnered with Pernice on the BBC show.

Revealing she invited the group to her house, Amanda said ‘we all cried, we all burst into tears.

+7
View gallery

Commenting on the BBC’s report Shirley said: ‘I don’t condone bullying I’ve been through it myself.. But now the investigation is over and everybody can move on’

+7
View gallery

This week, the BBC said that it has taken the claims ‘very seriously’, although just six of the 17 allegations made against the Giovanni have actually been upheld

‘We just wanted to make sure that we weren’t on our own and thinking this had just happened to us.’

‘Everyone I spoke to all said the same thing, it wasn’t pleasant and it wasn’t what everyone else was going through in the other [rehearsal] rooms.’

The actress told Newnight when asked about how she will proceed now the report has been published, that she is ‘taking guidance from my lawyer on a day to day basis.’

Out of 17 allegations, the BBC upheld six, some of which are for Giovanni using swear words. The report found that his language could be ‘belittling.’

The BBC also agreed with Amanda that at times he appeared to be giving her overly negative feedback.

Amanda also believes there is a ‘significant’ reason why she thinks other allegations she made were not upheld.

The star told Newsnight that the ordeal after working with Giovanni had been the most difficult of her life.

‘It has been one of the worst years of my life, I have been through a lot, women go through a lot,’ she said.

‘I have had to deal with a myriad of horrible things that have continued to happen just for complaining.’

+7
View gallery

The star told Newsnight that the ordeal after working with Giovanni had been the most difficult of her life: ‘It has been one of the worst years of my life, I have been through a lot, women go through a lot’

‘

In a statement about the investigation, the BBC said: ‘We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made.

‘We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.’

The report found that some of the language used by Giovanni towards Amanda could be ‘belittling’ and agreed with the Mr. Selfridge actress that his feedback was, at times, ‘overly negative’ and that he had used profanity during rehearsals.

The report noted after reviewing several hours of rehearsal footage as part of an official investigation that there were two moments of ‘inappropriate behaviour of s3xual banter in the workplace’, which were found to simply have been ‘made and received as jokes’ between the pair.

Amanda’s complaint that he sent her a video on WhatsApp which she deemed to be inappropriate was also not upheld.

Follow us to see more useful information, as well as to give us more motivation to update more useful information for you.
Source: New York Post