Amanda Abbington takes a ‘swipe’ at former Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice after BBC backed the under-fire star

Amanda Abbington seemingly took a cryptic swipe at her former Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice as she begged for ‘misogyny to be deprived of oxygen’ on Saturday.

The actress, 52, quit mid-series last year due to ‘personal reasons’ amid claims of a feud between her and the dancer, 33, before reports she had demanded footage of their rehearsals after the experience in the competition left her with PTSD.

But despite being hit with fresh allegations that he left a fourth celebrity in tears, MailOnline revealed the BBC were backing Giovanni ‘all the way’ and he would return to the show later this year after the broadcaster offered him a new contract. 

Following the news Amanda shared a quote to her social media which read: ‘Make people feel embarrassed of being associated with misogynists’.   

‘Make misogyny unprofitable for anyone to pursue. Deprive misogyny of the oxygen it needs to survive’.

MailOnline have contacted Amanda’s reps for comment.  

The allegations, attributed to sources close to his most recent dance partner Amanda, made out Giovanni was ‘abrasive’ with his partners and had reduced some to tears.

While Strictly insiders agree that Giovanni pushes his partners hard to give them the best possible chance of winning the glitterball, they insist he is no bully.

And that’s why, despite accusations from Amanda and three of his previous partners, Giovanni was ‘offered a contract’ at the meeting and readily accepted.

‘He is thrilled,’ says one insider on the BBC One show. ‘While there are dots on i’s and crosses on t’s still to be written in, it all looks to be happening for him. As it’s the 20th anniversary, it’s a big year for the show and everyone involved wants Giovanni to be part of it.

‘It has been a really difficult few months for him. To have been hit with such claims – but not having anything he can respond to – has been really, really tough.’

Both the BBC and Team Giovanni say there have been no official complaints made about his behaviour

In fact, one source described the claims as a ‘nasty witch hunt’, which could not just have ended his Strictly TV career but endangered his place on the international ballroom dancing circuit generally.

It all began in January when the Sun reported that former Sherlock star Amanda had asked the BBC for CCTV footage of the pair rehearsing. She claimed to have suffered ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ as a result of appearing on the programme and was considering legal action.

Both Giovanni and Strictly bosses believe the story was leaked by friends of Amanda, who has never made any comments on the record about the matter. In fact, despite numerous stories that she and Giovanni did not get on during the series – at the time, she insisted they were the best of friends.

Three weeks ago, the row erupted once again after the Sun reported that Amanda had met Good Morning Britain’s Ranvir Singh and television presenter Laura Whitmore – who were both former Strictly partners of Giovanni – to discuss their own ‘difficult’ experiences working with him.

This led to ‘tears being shed’, according to sources close to Amanda, who shared details of the meeting.

Despite Giovanni’s friends rebuffing the story as ‘three women meeting up for a coffee and a moan’, once again, the dancer was left ‘upset’ at the reports.

And earlier this week, it was reported that Giovanni’s 2018 partner, former member of the 1990s band Steps, Faye Tozer, struggled to work with him and broke down in tears following an appearance together on spin-off show, It Takes Two.

Faye, who made it to the final with Giovanni, ignored any opportunity to speak on the matter when she was approached, while those working on the show at the time say that her tears were in fact over a ‘personal issue away from the show’. 

The lack of evidence, and the fact that Amanda told bosses she was leaving Strictly before the end of the series last year for a different medical reason, left them with nothing to formally investigate.

‘The BBC are backing him all of the way,’ says an insider at the broadcaster. ‘There have been no complaints about Giovanni’s behaviour, nobody has actually come forward and said, ‘He did this to me’ or ‘He did that to me’.

‘Nothing has come to light from any of these people and it feels very unfair to judge someone and potentially dump someone from their job because of what is written in the red tops.’