Janette Manrara weighed in on the Strictly Come Dancing controversy as the hit series approaches its 20th year.
The former professional dancer, who stepped away from her role in 2021 to present BBC spin-off It Takes Two, dropped the opinion that addressing the recent abuse allegations on the show “wouldn’t be fair” to the newcomers.
She expressed her concern that it would impose “negativity” upon the fresh batch of celebs and their dance partners. Her input follows the troubling claims levelled at Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima about their conduct with their dance partners.
The scandal deepened as the BBC initiated an inquiry following Amanda Abbington’s accusations that Giovanni exhibited “unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean” behaviour towards her, reports the Mirror.
While Giovanni has refused all charges put against him, Graziano’s stint on the show came to an end amid revelations he was said to have accidentally kicked Love Island’s Zara McDermott during training.
Graziano conveyed his regrets but also clarified: “I didn’t deliberately hurt anyone. I am not a monster. I am not an abusive man,” and revealed the situation had severely impacted his mental state leading him to grapple with “ugly thoughts”.
When quizzed on Times Radio about whether the allegations should be addressed by the show’s hosts, Janette stated: “I don’t pick the script. I don’t decide what happens or doesn’t happen on the show. But in my personal opinion, I think it would not be fair to the new contestants to bring up that kind of negativity because they are here to have a positive experience.”
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The presenter added: “I think our jobs as hosts of the show mine as It Takes Two, and for Tess (Daly) and Claudia (Winkleman) on Strictly Come Dancing is to solely celebrate the people that are there now, their experience, and talk about what they are going through, celebrate the pro dancers and their group numbers that they’re doing now, and focus on moving forward.”
Janette went on to explain how she didn’t believe the new series of Strictly would be difficult, despite the controversy. The dancer remarked: “I’ll be honest, I think it’s a celebration, really. It’s the 20th anniversary and everybody that works on that show I know from first hand from being a professional on the show and now being one of the host members it is a show that I think every single person wants to work their absolute hardest to make it the best.”
She added: “And regardless of the controversy that’s been going around, I think they are coming back this year in the hopes that the highlight will be the 20 years that Strictly has brought joy and escapism.”
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