Nicola Roberts shares experience working with Giovanni Pernice amid 'feud' with Amanda Abbington

Nicola Roberts has provided insight into her experience working with Giovanni Pernice on Strictly Come Dancing, especially after being paired up in the 2022 Christmas Special.

The 33-year-old professional dancer has found himself in a dispute with Amanda Abbington, 51, who claimed that the BBC show brought her significant distress.\

Amanda, who was partnered with the Strictly star, left the BBC One series in the middle of the season, citing 'personal issues.'

Following her departure, Amanda reportedly insisted on reviewing rehearsal footage to showcase Pernice's 'tense' and 'full-on' training methods, which she alleges caused her PTSD.

Expressing her support for the dancer, Nicola, aged 38, characterized Giovanni as a 'great teacher,' but admitted that there were times when she 'might have wanted to strangle him.'

Speaking on The One Show in December 2022, the Girls Aloud singer said: 'Gio is a great teacher – he's a perfectionist - as am I. The waltz is so technical and it's so different to anything I've done before.

'I don't necessarily like the learning process because I lose concentration and Gio is very "again, again, again", but I was grateful because when I finally got to do the waltz I was prepared.

'And as much as during the rehearsal process I might have wanted to strangle him, I was glad that when I left the ballroom I thought I had done a good job of the waltz.'

His Strictly co-stars are said to be rallying around him, with a source telling the Mirror: 'There is a general feeling that the criticism is grossly unfair.'

His former partner Debbie McGee, who he was partnered with on the show in 2017, came out in defence of him on Monday.

The magician's assistant, 65, shared a throwback snap of the pair on Instagram, insisting they got on well while working together.