Featured Image Credit: Credit: BBC
Topics: BBC, Strictly Come Dancing, TV And Film, Instagram, Social media
Rhianna Benson
Topics: BBC, Strictly Come Dancing, TV And Film, Instagram, Social media
The rumoured feud between actress Amanda Abbington and the former Strictly Come Dancing partner, Giovanni Pernice, appears to still be rumbling on.
The ex-Sherlock star, 51, sensationally quit the show last week - despite being one of Strictly 2023's front-runners - without alluding as to why.
The following days saw speculation circling that Italian dancer Giovanni, 33, had no idea of Amanda's intentions to hang up her dancing shoes, and was reportedly blindsided by the move.
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Rumours of their suspected fall-out kicked off when Amanda seemingly failed to mention her toe-tapping partner in her official resignation statement.
Despite having danced together for the last five weeks, the actress wrote on Instagram: "It is with deepest regret that I had to leave Strictly.
"I did not come to this decision easily or lightly but for personal reasons I am unable to continue," she added.
"It was an absolute joy working with my fellow contestants, they are a beautiful, hardworking and talented group of people who I love and who I will miss seeing every Friday and Saturday and competing alongside."
Amanda went on to thank 'everyone on Strictly who looked after me and who are so kind and caring,' failing to mention her professional partner specifically.
Many of the couple's BBC co-stars flooded to the comment section to wish Amanda well in the future, professing their sadness at the prospect of not performing alongside her on Saturday night.
In fact, one of the only individuals who seemingly chose NOT to comment on Amanda's post was her partner, Giovanni.
And now, to add fuel to the fire, the Strictly pro's parents have spoken out about Amanda's decision to quit the show.
Speaking to The Sun, Giovanni's dad Piero admitted: "We are surprised by the fact she left the show, because everything was going okay — we thought they could have won.
"It all seemed okay for them before she quit the show. My son is a really nice, polite and respectful boy. He always had good results with different partners and he has never had problems with them."
“We’d never heard anyone saying negative things about Giovanni. The only thing Giovanni thought was, sometimes Amanda was tired during training.
Piero continued: "Sometimes you have to push a person to get to their best, but sometimes that isn’t what one person needs
Giovanni's mother Rosalda also agreed, insisting her son was 'just doing his job.'
“I can just talk about Giovanni as a person," she explained. "I’m surprised such a good partnership has ended. Giovanni has always had good relationships with all the other partners, like Rose.
"Giovanni is an excellent person. He is really loved by the English people. They have to train tough hours to get some results. Giovanni has just done what he had to do. He was just doing his job.”