BBC ‘faces £1million authorized invoice’ over Strictly misconduct scandal

The BBC could face a £1million legal bill over the Strictly Come Dancing misconduct scandal, according to reports, as two stars have left the show. 

It comes as a video has resurfaced of former professional Brendan Cole slapping his partner, Fiona Phillips’, bottom three times during rehearsals in 2005. 

Brendan was famously axed from the show back in 2018 after 15 years on air, following claims he was ‘difficult to work with.’

This year, Giovanni Pernice, 33, was suspended while a BBC probe is underway over allegations made by Amanda Abbington, 50, and two other former celebrity partners.

Last week, professional dancer Graziano Di Prima, 30, was axed from the show after he was accused of ‘hitting and kicking’ his celebrity partner Zara McDermott, 27, during rehearsals. 

Now, lawyers Carter Ruck, who are representing a number of past celebrity contestants, are ‘lining up claims for physical or mental health harm, and loss of earnings,’ with the BBC to be accused of liability. 

Sources previously claimed Amanda, Ranvir Singh and Laura Whitmore had an ’emotional summit’ where they ‘compared notes’ about their time working with Giovanni on the show.

Zara has since been seen with only three toenails left, her feet ‘bleeding’ and ‘passed out’ on the floor as images of her in training have come to light once more.

Elsewhere, resurfaced footage, broadcast on It Takes Two in 2005, shows former professional Brendan calling television presenter Fiona ‘pathetic’ and slapping her bottom on three occasions. 

Fiona asks Brendan to stop shouting at her before saying he ‘looked at me like I was something he’d stepped in.’

Commenting on his axing in 2020 Fiona claimed that her former partner ‘wasn’t very nice’ and that it was ‘karma’ that his contract wasn’t renewed. 

The former GMTV and Lorraine presenter told the Daily Star: ‘Brendan was a real b****r, actually. He wasn’t very nice. He was really naughty.

‘He’s not on the show now. Karma indeed. It works its way every time.’  

Fiona added in an interview with The Mirror in 2021: ‘Brendan is a rough old taskmaster and really wanted to be number one or nothing.’ 

 A source told The Sun on Friday ‘more stars are coming forward,’ they explained: ‘The figures for personal injury are notoriously low, but at least three celebrities have a case for lost earnings – the idea that being associated to this case has made them seem “tricksy” to employ.

‘Some previous contestants have been left needing therapy after appearing on the show, and at least two — Rachel Riley and Amanda Abbington — were diagnosed with PTSD.

‘If successful — and at the moment there certainly appears to be serious evidence for duty of care breaches — the BBC could well be forced to pay out well over £1million. For a tax-payer-funded show, it’s a very worrying prospect.’

MailOnline has contacted the BBC for comment and Brendan Cole’s representatives. 

Amanda quit Strictly back in October due to ‘personal reasons’ amid claims of a feud between her and Giovanni before reports she had demanded footage of their rehearsals after the experience in the competition left her with PTSD.

Meanwhile Ranvir complained about Giovanni to producers back in 2020, during their time on the show, while Laura said she ‘cried every day’ and felt ‘uncomfortable’ while dancing with him in 2016. 

The BBC are currently believed to be scouring through nine years of Strictly footage to confirm or deny claims from three celebrities.

It is claimed three past contestants are compiling dossiers to hand to their £700-an-hour lawyers before sending it to BBC bosses. 

Giovanni is working with combative legal firm Schillings and is expected to put forward transcripts to prove he acted fairly. 

A source close to the trio previously told MailOnline: ‘They are very unhappy with the way the BBC are handling this.

‘It’s one thing saying they are standing by him, but they feel as if Giovanni is being promoted and pushed centre stage in a bid to make them go away and keep quiet. It’s a kick in the teeth.

‘One of the reasons they wanted to meet up was to try and work on a way forward because they have no intention of just backing down and letting this just fade away.

‘All three have been impacted in different ways by what happened and they’ve agreed to speak again about how best they can get something done about it because they are genuinely worried about want went on and the fact someone else could end up experiencing what they went through.

‘But right now there’s a feeling that Gio is pretty much untouchable – especially given he is so close to Anton who thinks the world of him and can’t believe the stuff he’s been hearing claimed about his mate.’ 

MailOnline contacted BBC for comment at the time. 

In a resurfaced video posted on the professional dancer’s Instagram Story, Zara can be seen napping on the floor of the dance studio as she attempted to get some rest after an exhausting training session. 

Taken on October 25 just days before the pair were eliminated from the show in week six, Graziano waited for her to wake up as he captioned the snap: ‘She asked me 5 minutes break’. 

Later reposting the clip, after her slumber, she seemed to joke: ‘I think I’ve clocked about 50k steps already today with this routine. Give me a break pls’ alongside a laughing emoji. 

Months after the show, Zara also revealed that she only has three toenails after losing them during the competition.

While training for Strictly, Zara shared a photo of her nasty foot wounds including one on her big toe, she wrote: ‘Half my toe has come off tbh.’

During an interview last year, Zara revealed the reason behind her agonising injury, that left her feet ‘bleeding’ was her gruelling training sessions.

She said at the time it was a tough ride during rehearsals when Graziano made her wear ‘men’s shoes’ which left her feet sore and cut. 

Speaking at the Who Cares Wins awards, Zara said: ‘Graziano told me not to go for the heels but to dance in men’s shoes at the start.

‘I told him, ‘It’s not working, I need to take them off’ and he said, ‘No, no you’re fine’.

‘I said honestly it’s hurting and I took them off and my feet were bleeding. I was like, ‘I told you I am not being dramatic!’

Zara has been open about her injuries and has more recently been wearing a Aircast Boot after having a stress fracture in her tibia.

In March, the bombshell shared a health update on Instagram ahead of a hospital visit, she penned: ‘This evening I’m heading to the hospital because while I was away I got some news from my Dr about my tibia fracture.

‘The good news is that there is some small evidence of healing! Yay!

‘However he said he can see that the bone surrounding the fracture is under a lot of tension/pressure… whatever that means?

‘Surgery is still an option but I’ve opted for the most natural route which is to try and help it heal on its own…’

In another post, Zara explained her injury further and asked followers for advice.  

She penned: ‘So I have quite a significant stress fracture in my tibia that isn’t healing. It stretches pretty much the entire width of my bone.

‘The professor who operated on me back in December has advised that I am likely to need further surgery where they put metal screws and plates above and below the fractured area to fuse it together.

‘I’m just weighing up whether to crack on and go ahead with the surgery or wait and hope that it starts to heal on its own. If it doesn’t, then I will need to have surgery in 3-6 months anyway.’ 

Zara broke her silence after Graziano was sacked from Strictly Come Dancing over reports he ‘hit and kicked’ her on Tuesday. 

The Love Island star wrote on Instagram that while much of her time on Strictly ‘was everything I could have dreamt of’ inside the training room with Graziano there were ‘particular incidents which are incredibly distressing’.

‘I felt it was right that I post something regarding the recent media reports,’ Zara begain. ‘Strictly is one of the most magical shows on TV and one that I dreamt of being on since I was a little girl.’ 

‘When I was invited to be a contestant on the show it really was a childhood dream come true. I fully understood the level of commitment and hard work that Strictly was going to be and I dedicated everything to it.’

‘I am a resilient person and I was fully prepared to put in whatever it took.’ 

‘And so much of my Strictly experience was everything I could have dreamt of. The entire production team and everyone behind the scenes as well as my fellow contestants were so amazing to worth with.

‘However, my experience inside the training room was very different. Reports have been made about my treatment on the show and there were witnesses to some events, as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredible distressing to watch.

Zara explained that she didn’t report the alleged incidents at the time as she was ‘scared’ of backlash. 

Instead it was junior production staff who came forward to share what they had witnessed as the investigation into pro dancer Giovanni was taking place.

‘I have wrested with the fear of opening up – I was scared about public backlash, I was scared about my future, I was scared of victim shaming,’ Zara wrote on Instagram.

‘But after a lot of conversations with those I love, I’ve gained the strength to face these fears, and when I was asked to speak to the BBC, I spoke candidly about my time on the show.

‘I have wrestled with the fear of opening up – I was scared about public backlash, I was scared about my future, I was scared of victim shaming. But after a lot of conversations with those I love, I’ve gained the strength to face these fears, and when I was asked to speak to the BBC, I spoke candidly about my time on the show.

‘The culture within our society makes it difficult for people to speak up especially in a a world where social media opinions and voices are so loud. This is something I’ve seen through working with countless women on my documentaries.

‘I would like to thank the BBC and BBC Studios for their swift action and incredibly high level of support, as wel as everyone who has reached out to me – it really truly meas a lot. Love, always. Zara.’

Graziano, who was due to compete in his seventh series of Strictly before his sacking, is taking legal action against the BBC, MailOnline revealed on Monday and the BBC has vowed to fight back. 

The Sicilian dancer believes he should have been ‘supported and helped’ with his behaviour after bosses warned him about his treatment of former Love Island star Zara. 

But a BBC insider told the Mail that the broadcaster will fight back, explaining: ‘Why would any workplace, particularly one paid for by the public, offer support to someone who acted in an undoubtedly abhorrent manner?’

Graziano, who allegedly ‘kicked and hit’ Zara, argues that he was not given any advice on how to deal with the pressure of competing in the show.

A friend of the professional dancer said yesterday: ‘There are questions over their [the BBC’s] procedures, and how they operate behind the scenes.’

‘He [Di Prima] believes that there is a lot of pressure on professionals to get nines or tens to entertain the audience.’ 

MailOnline revealed that Strictly production staff raised concerns about Graziano’s alleged conduct last year, but bosses only went as far as to issue quiet warnings to him.

The group expected him to be sacked instantly. They are said to be furious that their complaints were ignored, meaning the abuse towards Zara was allowed to continue. Graziano was even signed on for the upcoming 2024 series of Strictly.

A source from the show said: ‘There were multiple occasions where both physical and verbal attacks were made. It was more physical than verbal, but all of it was dreadful.’

It was not until staff got hold of a video allegedly showing Graziano repeatedly hitting Zara– nine months after their initial complaint – that he was fired.