Scandal Hits U.K.’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ the Original ‘Dancing With the Stars’

[Pelican Press 0]

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Scandal Hits U.K.’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ the Original ‘Dancing With the Stars’

For almost two decades, viewers in Britain have watched celebrities jive, waltz and cha-cha-cha on

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,” a BBC reality television show that inspired the international “Dancing With the Stars” franchise.

The format, which has been licensed to

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, pairs professional ballroom dancers with people who are famous in other fields, from athletics and acting to politics and journalism. The ******** dancers then train intensively with their professional partners and compete in weekly live performances.

Introduced in 2004, the show quickly became one of the BBC’s most popular programs, widely loved as a glitzy, family-friendly watch on weekends.

But in recent months it has grabbed headlines because of a growing scandal: allegations that two professional male dancers exhibited bullying or abusive behavior toward their female dance partners during rehearsals.

One former contestant, the actor Amanda Abbington, has alleged in

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with the

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media that her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, displayed “bullying” and “aggressive behavior” and was “abusive, cruel and mean.” She declined to give further details of the behavior in interviews, saying the ongoing nature of a BBC investigation into the allegations prevented her from doing so.

Ms. Abbington, who appeared in the British series “Sherlock,”

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“personal reasons” last year for leaving the dance competition during filming, but

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this week that she had flagged the behavior to producers before filing an official complaint with the BBC. She said she believed that there were 50 hours of rehearsal video that could bolster her case, though they have not been made public.

The BBC has confirmed that Mr. Pernice

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for the show’s fall season. In a statement from its press office on Thursday, the BBC said: “Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on individuals.

“However, when issues are raised with us we always take them extremely seriously and have appropriate processes in place to manage this.”

Mr. Pernice, a dancer from Italy who has worked on the show since 2015, is “cooperating fully” with the investigation, according to a statement from Schillings, a communications consultancy and law firm. “Giovanni refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behavior, and, having provided the BBC with his evidence, is confident that the review will prove this,” the statement said.

Another professional dancer, Graziano Di Prima,

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this month that he would leave the show after accusations that he had kicked his partner, Zara McDermott, a TV presenter, during a rehearsal. “I deeply regret the events that led to my departure from ‘Strictly,’” he wrote on

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. “My intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime.”

A spokesman for Mr. Di Prima, Mark Borkowski, previously acknowledged to BBC News that the dancer

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, but said it was “an isolated incident that Mr. Di Prima deeply regrets and apologized for at the time.”

Ms. McDermott has called videos of some incidents during rehearsals “incredibly distressing to watch,” and her spokesman, Jonathan Hackford, said in a statement that “the reported conduct was not a singular incident.”

The scandal that has emerged over the past two months has sparked a conversation about the high-pressure world of competitive dancing and how much support the show’s producers offer its participants.

The BBC

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that it would add a chaperone to rehearsals and create two new roles dedicated to the ******** of the celebrities and the dancers. On Tuesday, Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, pledged to address concerns.

“Of course, alongside the fun and entertainment there will be a degree of competitiveness, hard work and a will to do well,”

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at the presentation of the BBC’s annual report. “That’s part of what makes this show. But there are limits, and the line should never be crossed.” He apologized to anyone who had not had a “wholly positive” experience, adding: “We will never tolerate unacceptable behavior of any kind.”

The show’s name is an amalgamation of the title of the 1992 Baz Luhrmann film “Strictly Ballroom” and a ballroom-dancing show from the 1950s, “

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.” It has a sizable and loyal audience: almost

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watched the finale last year. A successful run can heighten the profile of its celebrity cast, while the job can offer dancers a coveted path to

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, classes and stardom.

Some former contestants and dancers welcomed the BBC’s announcement of new measures and talked about the pressure-filled environment of the show, which culminates each week in performances in front of a live audience.

“It’s a really, really pressurized environment, and a lot of dancers struggle with mental health,” Kristina Rihanoff, a professional dancer who worked on the show between 2008 and 2015, said in a

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interview. Ms. Rihanoff said that pressure tended to rise as the finale neared. Changes to the production process, she said, could help participants feel more comfortable.

Since her accusations have become public, Ms. Abbington and her children have received violent threats, she said in

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.

“These aren’t dancers, these people that come in here,” she said, referring to the ******** contestants. “They just want to have a nice time. They want to learn.” She added, “The motivation to win at the end shouldn’t drive you to behave badly.”

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#Scandal #Hits #U.K.s #Strictly #Dancing #Original #Dancing #Stars

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