BBC apologizes to former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Amanda Abbington | BBC

The BBC has apologized to former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Amanda Abbington, saying it had assessed and upheld “some, but not all, of the complaints made”.

In a statement, the channel said: “The BBC has now completed its review of the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice. We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure that a rigorous and robust process was undertaken.

“Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards. Although the competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyful and transformative experience. It’s a shame if that wasn’t the case for everyone who appeared on the show.

“We evaluated the complaints and we retained some, but not all. We would like to apologize to Amanda Abbington and thank her for coming and participating. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.

No physical assault was noted, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, according to the PA news agency.

In a written statement, Abbington responded: “As the BBC indicated in its statement today, my decision to complain about Giovanni Pernice’s conduct towards me was not an easy thing to do.

“Since I contacted the BBC, I have been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being ‘crazy and unstable’. I also received rape and murder threats and a bomb threat was sent to my workplace. My family and children have also been subjected to threats and intimidation.

“Despite these vile abuses, I have never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC vindicates my complaint. This isn’t just vindication for me, it’s vindication for other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. I hope that those who feel unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.

“The BBC have invited me to meet senior management and this is something I will now consider.

“This apology means a lot to me. So too has the BBC admitted that the measures put in place to support and protect me and former candidates were “not enough”.

“What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and the BBC is making the changes it promised, to ensure others do not go through the same ordeal as me and others like me .”

The BBC’s head of content said a number of complaints under its bullying and harassment policy had been upheld, but said she was unable to give further details on the allegations made by Abbington over his time on Strictly Come Dancing.

Charlotte Moore told the BBC: “There have been a number of complaints made under our bullying and harassment policy, and a number of these complaints have been upheld. Not all, but a certain number of them were retained.

“I’m not able to go into detail about that, and there are very good reasons for that.

“It’s probably worth my time just to outline the confidentiality of a complaints process, which I believe is absolutely an integral part of the complaints process, and confidentiality should be respected in the interest of fairness to all the people involved.

“But of course we also try to balance that with the desire to be open and transparent about how our complaints processes work – and obviously in this case there has been a lot of media speculation and a lot of interest .

“So I think it’s really important that we’re as open and transparent as possible about this process, which is why we’ve released this statement.”