Giovanni Pernice confirms return to TV with former Strictly co-star
Giovanni Pernice will be returning to TV very soon!
The Italian professional dancer has not appeared on TV in the UK since last year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing, when he was partnered with actress Amanda Abbington.
In January of this year, Giovanni left the hit BBC series and an investigation was launched into allegations of misconduct, with Amanda making several claims against him.
Following a lengthy review, the BBC concluded in September that they had “upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made”. The claims of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, but the allegations of physical aggression were not. The BBC also formally apologised to Amanda.
Since the controversy began, Giovanni has moved back to his native Italy and has been competing in the Italian version of Dancing With The Stars. However, the 34-year-old has now confirmed that he is set to return to UK screens in the near future.
Earlier today, Giovanni took to his Instagram account to re-share the announcement that he will be appearing in the new series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted, to raise funds for Stand Up To Cancer.
The series follows a group of celebrities who are split into pairs of two, and must go on the run and stay out of reach of the ‘Hunters’. Across 14 days, the celebs will need to manage their finances carefully, track their movements and evade CCTV in order to avoid being caught early.
Giovanni will be paired up on Celebrity Hunted with one of his old castmates, Kai Widdrington, who still competes as a professional on Strictly.
Sharing the announcement on his own Instagram stories, Giovanni penned: “I’m back on your screen baby!”
Five other duos will be teaming up for the new series, including Loose Women’s Denise Welch and her husband Lincoln Townley, Blue singer Duncan James and reality star Christine McGuinness, social media’s David ‘Sideman’ Whitely and Zeze Millz, soap actresses Danielle Harold and Kimberly Hart-Simpson, plus newsreaders Simon McCoy and Lucrezia Millarini.
Celebrity Hunted will begin on Channel 4 on January 5 at 9pm.
