Why isn't Strictly's Giovanni Pernice in the group dances?
Giovanni won't be taking part in the group dances with his fellow pros this year.
The new season of Strictly Come Dancing is now in full swing, with a new cohort of 15 celebrities ready to be schooled in the arts of Latin and ballroom dancing by their professional partners.
Among the stars taking part this year are Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, actor Adam Thomas and tennis player Annabel Croft, who will take to the dance floor alongside the likes of TV host Les Dennis and former Come Dancing host Angela Rippon, who is making Strictly history as the show’s oldest ever contestant.
Eagle-eyed fans might have noticed, though, that professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, who won the competition back in 2021 with partner Rose Ayling-Ellis, doesn’t feature in the group dances this year.
Here’s the backstory behind Giovanni’s absence from those show-stopping group numbers…
Why isn’t Giovanni Pernice in the group dances?
When Strictly aired in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, the show’s bosses made the decision to pre-film all of the group numbers in the summer, rather than record them live, before the competition kicked off in earnest.
This was so that the professional dancers could form a ‘bubble’ beforehand in accordance with Covid protocols at the time.
Since then, they’ve decided to stick to this plan, typically filming the group dances in August ahead of each new season premiering in September.
While performing his Him & Me stage show with Strictly pro-turned judge Anton du Beke back in July, Giovanni injured his ankle and was advised to take a break from dancing in order to rest.
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"As you probably know I’m on tour at the moment with Anton and doing one of the dances I did twist my ankle on stage,” he told fans last month.
"I have just been to the doctor, to the physio, and he advised [me] to rest for a few weeks.”
He further explained: “[The injury] also means that I am going to miss a few of the Strictly professional group numbers, but I just need to give some rest to my ankle and come back stronger than ever for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing - which I’m really looking forward to."
Last year, Giovanni was paired up with presenter and radio host Richie Anderson, and ended up leaving the competition in its second week.
He recently laughed off reports that he is planning to leave the BBC dance show, sharing a screenshot of a tabloid report on his Instagram story with the caption: "Lol I'm not going anywhere!!!"
Strictly Come Dancing starts at 6:35pm on 16th September on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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