Richard Madeley claims Amanda Abbington looks ‘damaged’ after Channel 4 interview
Amanda Abbington gave an emotional interview this week on Channel 4 News as she spoke about the ongoing BBC investigation regarding her time on Strictly Come Dancing with professional partner Giovanni Pernice
GMB's Richard Madeley reacts to Amanda Abbington interview
On Thursday’s instalment of Good Morning Britain, hosts Richard Madeley and Ranvir Singh were speaking about the latest news in showbiz with entertainment reporter Richard Arnold.
Madeley began: “Judy [Finnigan] and I made a point of watching Channel 4 News last night to catch this interview with Amanda Abbington. It’s about 40-45 minutes long, we both felt having watched the whole thing go out kind of live, that she looked very damaged by the experience."
The showbiz reporter agreed as Arnold replied: “It was deeply, deeply unsettling to watch, wasn’t it? It really was.”
Speaking about Abbington “candidly” opening up about her experience on Strictly Come Dancing, viewers got to see a small glimpse of the emotional star speaking to Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
During the bombshell chat with Guru-Murthy, Abbington likened her time on the BBC show to “in the trenches”. Dropping out of the series midway through last year, the 50-year-old has since made strong allegations against her former dancing partner.
Accusing him of being abusive, cruel and mean, Abbington told Guru-Murthy there are 50 hours of footage of her time in the rehearsal room with Pernice that is being blocked. Abbington explained she had raised concerns with the producers of the show within her first week of training with the pro, which prompted cameras being put in the training room.
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She revealed that the producers told Abbington they would review footage at the end of the week and make assessments. She added: “Then every Friday after that, for the next sort of five weeks, I would get the producer saying on the Friday, ‘we’ve just watched the footage, but we are shocked and horrified. We’re so sorry.'"
A spokesperson for Giovanni said the 33-year-old strongly denies the claims made against him. They said in a statement: "He refutes these allegations and denies any accusations of abusive or threatening behaviour.
"He has provided substantive evidence to the investigation, and he remains fully confident of clearing his name."
Although it’s not just Giovanni under fire as Graziano Di Prima was recently axed from the programme following an investigation by the BBC for his treatment towards Zara McDermott.
A spokesperson confirmed he kicked the reality TV star and he has apologised for his behavious. Footage seen of their rehearsals reportedly left BBC staff "in tears".
Good Morning Britain continues weekdays on ITV from 6am.
