Rumours of a feud between Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice were firmly put to bed on tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The actress was paired with professional dancer Giovanni for the 2023 series of the show, with Amanda expressing her delight when the pairing was revealed as he was exactly who she was hoping for.
But chaos began to reign as rumours swirled the pair were not getting along, with a source even claiming to The Sun that Amanda was threatening to quit – hours before the first live show of the series.
A rep told Metro.co.uk there was no truth to this however, and Giovanni later praised his dance partner on social media, hitting back at the rumours – while Amanda launched a scathing, sweary rant at whoever started the rumours.
And if there was any doubt left, the pair brushed this aside as they danced the Viennese Waltz to Lewis Capadi’s Pointless.
The judges heaped praise on the duo after the impressive and haunting routine, with Shirley Ballas saying there was ‘magic between you.’
‘That is hard to muster up,’ she added, lauding their ‘beautiful chemistry.’
Motsi Mabuse agreed there was ‘something so special about you,’ but urged Amanda to ‘express yourself a little more.’
Craig, meanwhile, worried the routine was ‘overpowered,’ but said they danced ‘brilliantly.’
Amanda and Giovanni’s efforts paid off as they were awarded a score of 29, getting seven points from each of the judges but Shirley, who gave them an eight.
And as the gruelling training continues, Amanda quipped: ‘Roll on Monday.’
After the first night of the live shows, Nigel and Katya are the ones to beat with 32 points, followed by Layton and Nikita, Ellie and Vito, Bobby and Dianne and Amanda and Gio in joint second place with 29.
So far, Les and Nancy are currently on the bottom of the board with 16 points – but it’s still very, very early days.
Strictly Come Dancing returns next Saturday on BBC One.
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