Strictly Come Dancing professional tells BBC to ‘stop hiring Italian dancers’

A former Strictly Come Dancing pro has jokingly called on the BBC to ‘stop booking Italian dancers’ after the recent controversies.

Ahead of the premiere of the most recent season of the long-running dancing series, two professional dancers left the line-up following allegations of ‘bullying’ and ‘abuse’.

The allegations first came to light in May after Giovanni Pernice, 34, abruptly quit the show over claims made by his former dance partner, Amanda Abbington, who accused him of ‘bullying’ and ‘abusive’ behaviour. He has denied all of the allegations.

The claims prompted a three-month internal investigation into the alleged incident, though the BBC has yet to release the findings to the public.

Soon after, in July, it was revealed Graziano Di Prima, 30, had departed Strictly after allegations he was ‘physically and verbally abusive’ towards his former dance partner, Zara McDermott.

The Strictly professional apologised for his actions, with his spokesperson saying he ‘made a mistake’.

However, a few months on former pro dancer Ian Waite, who appeared on the show from 2004 until 2010, has weighed in.

During an interview on the Stripping Off with Matt Haycox podcast, Ian said all Italians should now be banned from taking part.

After being asked if he knew Giovanni and Graziano, he replied: ‘Well, there’s a link. They’re both Italian. A little bit of advice.’

He added: ‘Yea, I know both of them. I mean, I’ll be honest. It’s quite a shock and surprise that these allegations have been thrown around, because certainly in my time on Strictly I never experienced anything like that.’

Ian went on to share that there were times where he ‘fell out’ with previous dance partners and said ‘there were times when there was even a lot of shouting matches going on, but it was for good reason’.

He continued: ‘In any work situation, it doesn’t matter what it is, even if it’s TV or whatever, there has to be a level of respect and there’s certain lines that have to be drawn, surely.

‘I think one of the problems here is that, as a pro dancer, we certainly weren’t given all the safeguarding rules or the rules that we should be sticking to as far as with out celebrities.’

‘Unless it’s all filmed, it’s your word against theirs.’

Other Italian dancers to have appeared on Strictly throughout the years include Vito Coppola, Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone.

After leaving Strictly, last year Ian joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars Australia and recently won his second season on the show with actress Lisa McCune.