The actor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Amanda Abbington has said she worries about taking public transport after receiving online threats following her complaints of bullying on the show.
Abbington made a complaint about the teaching methods of her former dance partner Giovanni Pernice months after withdrawing early from the 2023 series of the celebrity competition.
The Sherlock and Mr Selfridge actor alleges she was subject to “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying” and a “toxic environment” while on the BBC show.
Pernice, who left his job as a Strictly professional before the upcoming season, rejects “any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour”, and believes he will be cleared by a BBC review.
His 2016 dance partner, the former Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore, claimed she was subjected to “inappropriate behaviour” during her stint on the programme, but did not name Pernice.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Friday, Abbington said she had withdrawn from social media after getting “incredibly toxic and relentless” online abuse from Strictly fans.
She claimed previously this included death and rape threats against her and her family.
She said: “When I’m on the train and things, I do sometimes feel exposed and vulnerable, I do, because of the nature of the threats I was getting. You do feel like you’re public enemy number one for saying ‘I do not feel entirely happy with this’.”
Abbington also said she had been approached by people who told her that her comments had encouraged them to be vocal in their workplaces.
She said there were “pockets of times” when she got along with Pernice, before saying their relationship would return to “chaos”.
“I recognise red flags and I recognise bad behaviour, because it’s happened to me in the past, and they were coming up more and more frequently,” she said.
“And I decided to just speak to the producers about it and say: ‘Look, I’m not comfortable. This is beginning to slightly get out of hand. And it’s a repeat pattern, it starts well, and then it starts to descend into chaos’.”
Abbington has previously claimed producers installed cameras in the training studio, but did not act on her allegations.
She said she had been told this type of behaviour had happened before. “I don’t think women should have to go through this,” she said. “Women should be allowed to stand up and go: ‘This behaviour is affecting me. It’s not fair, please do something about it’. So everybody’s happy.”
She also said her fellow actor Sue Vincent, who co-created The Madame Blanc Mysteries, had advised her to speak up, telling her to “just think about how you would feel if you didn’t say something” when she was in her 70s.
The BBC and Pernice have been contacted for a further response.
