Giovanni Pernice wins support of Strictly celeb he 'fought with every day' over new move
Giovanni Pernice's future seemed to be on shaky ground after Amanda Abbington alleged misconduct behind the scenes of Strictly - but now his latest career move has drawn a fresh wave of support from celebrities.
Giovanni Pernice is set to join Ballando con le Stelle next week - a show which he has described as the "Italian version of Dancing With The Stars".
The new venture will take him away from the UK until his 2025 tour The Last Dance hits British theatres in January. However, he's not short of celebrity support over here, as he discovered when he took to Instagram just two days after his 34th birthday to share the good news.
Even Michelle Visage - the Ru Paul's Drag Race judge who partnered Giovanni on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2019 - had a good word to say, despite once confessing the fiery pair had "fought every day". She urged him in the comments: "Go win and DON’T VOGUE!", in a reference to the pair's dance to Madonna's 'Vogue' being the one that saw them eliminated from the show.
Michelle had previously confessed to Alison Hammond that she saw Giovanni as "the toughest pro there is" - but said that's exactly what she "wanted". "It depends - some people can handle that, [but] some people don't want to handle that. I wanted that," she revealed.
Talking on This Morning, she continued: "We fought every day, and it was for good reason because we got to where we wanted to be - we looked beautiful together.” Over on Instagram today, fans raged that Gio and Michelle had left the show prematurely after the Vogue performance.
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One raged: "I loved that one! It was a travesty that you went out with that brilliant, completely different dance!"
Meanwhile, Giovanni received support from other celebrities too.
Award-winning Game of Thrones actress Hannah Waddingham made it clear that she stood behind him when she took on his native language, Italian, to wish him luck.
"Buona fortuna Bello! Xxxx" she wrote as she shared his triumph at snaring a place on the Italian show.
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Then former Strictly pro Ian Waite joined in with the praise, saying he "loved" the Vogue dance, while celeb makeup artist and This Morning presenter Bryony Blake wished him "good luck" for his new adventure in his native Italy.
One fan added: "We will miss you in the UK! All the best for your new adventures closer to your homeland!"
However, Amanda Abbington is reportedly storming behind the scenes that the BBC is behaving like a "boys' club" by "protecting" Giovanni.
An announcement has not yet been made about the results of the Strictly probe into Giovanni's alleged misconduct on the show, which saw him quit earlier this year, but a verdict is expected soon.
