Strictly Come Dancing star Chris McCausland has given his view on the scandal that rocked the show months before he won it.
The comedian, actor and presenter McCausland, who became the first blind person to lift the Glitterball trophy in 2024, has mused on the “clash” that can occur between celebrities and their professional partners.
McCausland was one of the first celebrities to sign up to the show after the surfacing of a behind-the-scenes scandal, which erupted after actor Amanda Abbington claimed she was subjected to a “toxic environment” and “inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying” behaviour during her time on the show.
An investigation into her professional partner Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour was launched – and the BBC upheld some, but not all, of Abbington’s complaints. Pernice has strongly denied all allegations.
However, the investigation found that another Strictly pro dancer, Graziano Di Prima, had acted inappropriately during rehearsals of the 2023 series with his celebrity dance partner Zara McDermott.
Di Prima, who joined Strictly in 2018, was dropped from the show, and he said that he “deeply regret[s] the events that led to my departure from Strictly”.
The firestorm led to a debate about how seriously the professionals take the show, with the BBC introducing chaperones for the 2024 series in order to monitor all behaviour.
McCausland has held back from discussing the subject, but, days after another star, Annabel Croft, revealed that she saw a co-star “run off in lots of tears” during her time on the show, he has now shared his view.
“I understand the idea of feeling emotionally pressured because you’ve all got different objectives,” he told The Times.
“Some people’s objective might be to survive another week, whereas from the dancers’ point of view, the objective is to succeed because that’s their profession; that’s what their reputation is based on.
“I can see that there can be a clash.”
Pernice did not appear on the 2024 series of the show, which was won by Chris McCausland, but appeared as a professional on the Italian version instead.
He steered his celeb partner – and now girlfriend – actor Bianca Guaccero to victory, but said he “would love to go back” to Strictly despite believing the BBC has “closed the book” on his return.
He added that his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected [his] training regime” and acknowledged that “it’s only right for the sake of the show that [he] step[s] away”.
The BBC said they “would never comment on individual cases”, but stressed that they have “established robust duty of care procedures, and if issues are raised we will always take them seriously and act swiftly as appropriate”.
