STRICTLY star Giovanni Pernice appeared to poke fun at his ongoing feud with his former celebrity partner Amanda Abbington during his solo sjow.
The Italian choreographer, 33, laughed with the audience on Friday night about how his tour co-star and fellow Strictly pro Lauren Oakley, 32, got further in the BBC1 dance competition than he did with her “s**t partner” newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 53.
It comes after actress Amanda, 51, was forced to pull out of the contest in October for medical reasons and has since been diagnosed with PTSD.
On Friday night Giovanni told the crowd at his Let Me Entertain You UK show at Guilford’s G Live theatre when Lauren walked on stage: “Let’s welcome onstage a real hero, a person who made another person on Strictly Come Dancing a hero, who could not walk straight at first.”
Brit Lauren quipped: “I was very pleased actually….I got further than you.”
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The audience took it that Gio’s long pause and giggling in response - and laughter from the crowd - meant that he was accepting it was a jibe at his early exit after Amanda pulled out of Strictly.
He hit back at Lauren, saying: “You still had a shit partner, anyway let’s move on. You made him look great.”
He added: “The show is good innit? I warned you it would be edgy. We have gone for edgy, that is what we like.”
Joking about his sex appeal as he ages, Giovanni, who has dated Maura Higgins, Ashley Roberts and fellow dancer Jowita Prztsyal, he said: “They used to call me the Italian Stallion but now that has gone. Now I am the Italian pony but the rides are still as good.”
Last weekend the Sun on Sunday told how Amanda had received death threats.
The Sherlock star, who has two children with her actor ex-partner Martin Freeman, said; “I’m very sorry that people felt the need to send me death threats this last week, threaten my children and bring up my past, healthy relationship with an ex-partner as an indicator of my current mental health. I wish those people well.”
Amanda is now engaged to Britain’s Got Talent stuntman Jonathan Goodwin, 43.
The BBC insisted last week that they would not be conducting an investigation and a spokesman said: “There is a constant dialogue between the senior production team and contestants to ensure any concerns are addressed swiftly.”