Former Strictly Cheshire dancer shocked by complaints

A former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer has said she is “shocked” by recent complaints of abusive behaviour on the show.

Chloe Hewitt, from Burleydam, near Nantwich, Cheshire, who worked on the show in 2016 and 2017, said her experience was “positive” and “authentic”.

Actress Amanda Abbington had claimed that her professional partner in the show, Giovanni Pernice, was “useless, abusive, cruel and mean“.

Pernice denied “any allegations of threatening or abusive behavior.”

The BBC said it took issues “extremely seriously” when they were raised and had “appropriate processes in place to deal with them”.

Ms Hewitt told BBC Radio Stoke that while she was working on the show the dancers were all “very close-knit”.

“In any show like this, there’s a pressure to always want to do your best,” she said.

“I always felt like everyone was working together when I was on the show.

“My experience has been nothing but positive and authentic.”

Earlier this month, TV star Zara McDermott, who linked up with another former dancer, Graziano Di Prima, last year, said she was involved in incidents in the Strictly training room which she now finds “incredibly painful” to see again.

A confirmed the spokesperson of Graziano Di Prima The star kicked McDermott once during rehearsals, leading to his expulsion from the show.

“There’s never a time when shooting, or anything like that, is right,” Mark Borkowski told BBC News. “And he knows that.

“He knows he made a mistake. He apologized at the time.”

But McDermott’s spokesperson said: “Zara has already confirmed in a statement posted on its social media channels earlier this week that the reported behaviour was not an isolated incident.”

Ms Hewitt said that when the news started coming in, “it was almost like I wasn’t reading what was real”.

“These allegations are not sympathetic in any way, but it’s a shame that they could put a damper on such a positive show, especially on its 20th anniversary,” she said.

“You have to assess what you have in front of you – how far (the competitors) need to be pushed.

“There’s support on the show, but I never needed it. But if I did, I would have felt like there was someone I could talk to.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Anyone involved in a complaint has the right to confidentiality and a fair process and it would therefore be inappropriate to make further comments about individuals.

“However, when issues are brought to our attention, we always take them very seriously and have appropriate processes in place to deal with them. As we have said before, we urge people not to speculate.

“More broadly, the BBC and BBC Studios take duty of care very seriously. Our procedures on Strictly Come Dancing are updated every year, they are constantly reviewed and last week we announced additional measures to further strengthen wellbeing and support on the show.”

These measures include the presence of a member of the production team at all rehearsals and the appointment of new social protection officers for celebrities and professionals.

Tuesday, BBC Director-General Tim Davie has apologised to the candidates whose experiences on the show had not been “entirely positive” and maintained that the show would return.