What shocking news for us Strictly fans that one of the show’s star dancers, Giovanni Pernice, has left the dance-floor amid claims his tough training left some celebrities traumatised.
Most notable among them was actress Amanda Abbington, who quit then claimed she’d suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Of course I feel sorry for her – she was clearly upset and traumatised by the experience. But it’s also enough to make fans weep. We all love Giovanni. He’s a cornerstone of Strictly. Many would kill to get the chance to dance with him.
Now we hear that the BBC has launched an internal investigation into the Strictly star after ‘three former contestants instructed lawyers’.
Giovanni Pernice, has left the dance-floor amid claims his tough training left some celebrities traumatised
Amanda Abbington quit then claimed she’d suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorde
But what did they expect when they signed up for Strictly?
To my mind there is snowflakery going on and it is in danger of shattering the glitterball of our dreams. Gio is not now in the show’s line-up of professional dancers for the next series. He’s contemplating his future on a holiday. And who can blame him? Gio admits his style of training ‘isn’t to everyone’s liking – especially in this day and age’. But isn’t that the rub of it?
We live in an era when almost any grievance can become allegations of workplace bullying. When career-ending charges can be levelled in all spheres of work on the slightest pretext. And often because the accusers weren’t tough enough for the job.
The tragedy is that this has all taken place just as Strictly has won BAFTA’s top award for Best Entertainment Programme and is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It would be a travesty if Gio wasn’t there to join in.
Boris Becker joins the line-up for Bear Grylls and Holly Willoughby’s new survival show Bear Hunt — joining hotties Lottie Moss, Una Healy, Mel B and Leomie Anderson.
I guess rumours he requested an empty broom cupboard be built on the set, just in case, are purely scurrilous.
Dream on Bridget…
First pictures appear of Renee Zellweger, 55, filming the latest Bridget Jones movie on Hampstead Heath, where the fictional single mum of two now resides.
That’s stretching credulity from the start, as rentals for a minuscule, two-bed basement flat in Hampstead start at around £3,000 per month.
But no more fanciful than the middle-aged Bridget in a love triangle with Hugh Grant, her son’s PE teacher – and One Day heartthrob Leo Woodall aged 27.
Olly Alexander says he’ll claim receiving nul points from the public in the Eurovision Song Contest as ‘iconic’.
There’s a lesson for those choosing our next entrant. Maybe not opt for an act where the singer simulates sex in a filthy lavatory.
Netflix star Nicola grins and bares it
Nicola Coughlan has been mercilessly mocked for her fuller figure. Yet she chose to appear naked in love scenes in the third series released this week
Actress Nicola Coughlan has been mercilessly mocked for her fuller figure, with one podcaster horribly describing her as ‘the fat girl from Bridgerton’.
Yet she chose to appear naked in love scenes in the third series released this week, saying: ‘It was amazingly empowering. I felt beautiful in the moment.’
Given that fans are binge-watching the new episodes on Netflix, it is clear that thousands of viewers agree.
Two years on from their fairytale second marriage and Hollywood is aswirl with rumours that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have parted.
They’ve not been seen together for weeks and he’s living in a separate home. Unsurprising really. Repeat marriages are like car tyre retreads – they never last.
I’m mad with Anya
After a 20-hour trip from Oz to London last week, with filthy hair and smudged mascara, I bore a striking resemblance to her character Furiosa
My adoration for Anya Taylor-Joy, star of the new Mad Max movie, evaporated when I saw her at Cannes airport looking impossibly glamorous after a flight.
But we have one thing in common. After a 20-hour trip from Oz to London last week, with filthy hair and smudged mascara, I bore a striking resemblance to her character Furiosa.
Was there a moment on his trip to Nigeria when Prince Harry questioned what he’d given up?
While he was in Africa, Prince William was made Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps by King Charles, a title the younger son surely expected to receive as the one who saw active service, flying in Afghanistan.
To add insult to injury, William, in combat fatigues, left in one of the Apache helicopters Harry flew in battle.
Thousands of people in Devon are drinking bottled water after a parasite that can cause diarrhoea was found to have entered water supplies.
Meanwhile, Susan Davy – South West Water’s boss since 2020 – has already earned £4 million. That’s enough to make anyone sick.
This bikini shot taken just weeks ago is just the pic for your skin flick, Liz
Promoting her erotic thriller Strictly Confidential, Liz Hurley told her 2.9 million Instagram followers that at 58 she covers up in public because high-definition cameras are unflattering and when you’re older ‘your skin isn’t so good on your body’.
Au contraire Liz, this bikini shot taken just weeks ago is just the pic for your skin flick.
Westminster wars
- A bit rich of backseat driver Theresa May to accuse Boris of destroying the Conservative Party’s popularity with voters when she called a disastrous snap election in 2017 and lost the Tory majority – paving the way for his premiership in 2019 with a stunning landslide victory.
- Keir Starmer announces his six pledges – tieless, in a too-tight white shirt exposing his man-boobs. Was he trying to woo the woman vote, as in Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy wet-shirt scene, or has his style team just given up?
What is it about pot-bellied, balding Jeremy Clarkson that he’s voted the UK’s sexiest man two years in a row?
That he’s a brilliant writer, funny, self-deprecating, cries when piglets die on his Diddly Squat Farm, or that he has a well-deserved £43 million fortune?
After a beaming King Charles had five engagements this week, Camilla said he was ‘getting better’.
Doing the job he loves is the best tonic for him as well as us monarchists. Now all we need is good news about Kate.
So happy for saucy Dame Jilly
A joy to see Jilly Cooper, 87, collecting her Damehood – at last – from King Charles for services to literature and charity, saying it was ‘orgasmic’!
That’s quite a tribute from a woman who has written more bonkbuster sex scenes and given more illicit pleasure to her readers than anyone alive.
