Dancing without a care in the world, these unseen family photographs show Giovanni Pernice in his pomp back home in Italy before his Strictly dream came true.
The star arrived in London almost ten years ago with barely a word of English and needing a BBC translator to get him through his first series where he got to the final with Georgia May Foote.
MailOnline can reveal he could not curb his enthusiasm when he emigrated, sharing a picture of his passport and tickets from Palermo to London via Milan with the caption in Italian: ‘Finally. Strictly Come Dancing. I’m coming’.
His ever-loyal mother Rosalba replied with kissing emojis: ‘My love you will be great’.
Giovanni had left home aged 14 to go to dance school in Bologna, 800 miles away from his parents and sister in Sicily.
But the sacrifices, and many tears in homesick phone calls to his family, were worth it after winning the Italian Championships in 2012 at the age of 22.
When he landed in London three years later the fresh-faced dancer posed happily in front of Big Ben on Facebook, where weeks earlier he had said: ‘I want to live my life without stress and worries. I don’t need to be rich and famous. I want to be happy’.
Giovanni Pernice in his pomp in Italy in 2012 where he became national champion before his dream to join Strictly came true three years later
Giovanni, pictured in around 2012, came to the UK in 2015 barely speaking English and needed an earpiece with a translator to help him through his first shows because of the language barrier
Giovanni dancing in Italy before he moved to the UK for Strictly
Giovanni poses at Big Ben in the days after moving to London
He had shared his passport and tickets on Facebook with the caption: ‘Strictly here I come!’
Giovanni Pernice knew as a child (left) he wanted to dance, and went on to be Italian champion in his early twenties (right) after surviving school bullying and leaving home at 14 to pursue his dream
What followed was four Strictly finals in eight years, including a 2021 win with EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, and a career in the UK that helped him from hard-up dancer to millionaire TV star.
But while many could argue he is the greatest Strictly professional of all time, Giovanni has now walked away from the show he loved amid claims of bullying, sparked by the shock departure of Amanda Abbington during the last series.
His parents have insisted their ‘kind’ and ‘generous’ son has ‘just been doing his job’ when asked why Laura Whitmore said she ‘cried every day’ while training. Ranvir Singh admitted that she once walked out of rehearsals when her professional partner ‘put me in my place’.
And Strictly insiders have said that his success changed him, and made him ‘less nice’ as the show went on.
The source told MailOnline that Giovanni is not the same person who arrived in the UK almost a decade ago.
‘As the show has gone on, and he has become more successful, speaking frankly, he is not as nice as he was’, they said.
‘Gio doesn’t appear to have many friends. It is perhaps telling that his best friend is Anton. But he is exceptionally close to his family. They are huge support to him. He is the golden boy of the family, always has been and always will be’, the source added.
The Sicilian ballroom star, now 33, was making ends meet teaching dance classes when he was approached to move to Britain and join the show.
He later admitted that he had watched its predecessor Come Dancing and that it had inspired him to do ballroom, aged seven, a passion that led to him being bullied at school.
The sun had shone on the Pernice family and the Sicilian hills last June as Giovanni watched with pride as Angela walked down the aisle.
Fittingly for her ballroom star brother’s return home to Italy, she was pictured hugging him tightly on the dancefloor of her wedding reception.
Angela wrote afterwards of her little brother: ‘That pain in the a**e has become a man – a wonderful man. I love you my little brother. You are my life’. Describing other pictures of her parents and Giovanni, Angela wrote: ‘Family is not important, family is everything.’
Her wedding day will surely have been supported financially by Giovanni, after an extraordinary turnaround in fortunes for the star who had very little just a decade ago and left home at 14.
Last month the whole family flew over from Italy to watch Giovanni in his Let Me Entertain You show and posed outside the sold out London Palladium – a show of support for their ‘golden boy’ as he faced claims he mistreated dance partners.
A family friend said their view is that Gio has high standards and told MailOnline: ‘They are the typical Italian family and stick together through thick and thin, they are his biggest fans and they will not have a bad word said about him’.
Strictly star Giovanni Pernice’s former partner Rose Ayling-Ellis reportedly admits she is not surprised what others are saying amid BBC probe into ‘abusive behaviour’ by Giovanni
Giovanni’s parents Piero and Rosalba and sister Angela (together left) came to London last month to support him and his new show at the Palladium
Gio hugs his sister and parents on Angela’s wedding day in Italy last year. Angela says her brother has been a pain – but is her ‘world’
He has found love and support from new girlfriend Molly Brown (pictured together)
‘They watched his show when he won and were in tears and they are often over in London visiting or Giovanni gets back to Palermo as often as he can’.
Giovanni has found love and support from his new girlfriend Molly Brown. They were pictured together on holiday in Madeira this month.
‘The plan is for his girlfriend Molly to come over [to Sicily] soon’, the family friend said.
After receiving the call from the BBC in 2015 asking him to join Strictly Come Dancing, he had arrived in London from Italy with barely a word of English and very few pounds in his pocket.
Giovanni needed an earpiece throughout his first series of Strictly so an Italian speaker could translate for him.
But it didn’t hold him back and he managed to get to the final with partner Georgia May Foote, losing out to Jay McGuiness and Aliona Vilani who won the competition.
Three more finals have followed including a famous win with Rose Ayling-Ellis, who success as a disabled dancer reduced millions of viewers to tears.
But behind the scenes at the show, not all was well and he is leaving under a cloud amid claims of bullying and mistreatment of partners on the show.
Giovanni’s parents Piero and Rosalba lived in a fourth-floor apartment in the Sicilian city of Palermo, close to where his sister Angela also lives.
His father is a traffic warden while his mother is retired and stays at home looking after his sister’s little boy while she works.
To those close to him, claims that he is a bully have shocked them – particularly because he was bullied himself because he wanted to be a dancer rather than a footballer.
He knew he wanted to be a dancer aged seven, which led to him being picked on in masculine Sicily.
Aged 14 he moved hundreds of miles away to Bologna in northern Italy to go to dance school, crying down the phone to his family due to home sickness.
Surprised: Giovanni Pernice’s mum and dad have said the dancer ‘was just doing his job’ following partner Amanda Abbington’s shock departure from Strictly Come Dancing (pictured with his parents outside Buckingham Palace)
In recent weeks, the professional dancer, 33, has come under fire for his ‘militant’ training style, with the BBC forced to investigate ‘serious workplace misconduct claims’
Amanda Abbington (pictured), Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have also been critical in their review of him
He said previously: ‘I remember watching the BBC ballroom dancing competition Come Dancing at the age of seven. It was so beautiful. I turned to my mum and said: ‘I want to try that!’
So I started having ballroom and Latin lessons. Then I won my first competition and thought: ‘Wow, I’m good at this!’ After that I never stopped.
‘It drove me to leave home at the age of 14, to live on my own and pay my way through dance school in Bologna (teaching dance, alongside studying) — and, seven years later, to win the Italian Championships in 2012.
‘It gave me the confidence to accept a role on Strictly and move to London — even though I didn’t speak any English. I had three months to become fluent enough to speak on live TV and coach my celebrity partner. On that first show, I was petrified. But seven years on, I can chat comfortably in English.
‘Fame also means I get lots of messages from fathers telling me their sons want to dance but don’t have the courage. I always ask them to speak to their sons and tell them to follow their dreams.
‘And those people from school who once judged me? They are the ones now calling me up and saying: ‘Can I work for you?’ I’ve had people ask to have a job simply carrying my luggage on tours. But I always say: ‘You know what, you can’t.’ That is karma’.
Amid turmoil over his Strictly future, Angela and their parents Piero and Rosalba were in London together last month to support him and watch him perform at the London Palladium.
They have only spoken once publicly about his troubles – but have said the dancer ‘was just doing his job’ following his partner Amanda Abbington’s shock departure from Strictly.
Piero said: ‘We are surprised by the fact she left the show, because everything was going ok – we thought they could have won.’
He added: ‘My son is a really nice, polite and respectful boy. He always had good results with different partners and he has never had problems with them.
Giovanni’s mum Rosalda explained: ‘They have to train tough hours to get some results. Giovanni has just done what he had to do. He was just doing his job.’
Strictly Come Dancing pro Giovanni Pernice’s former celebrity partners have complained they felt ‘uncomfortable’ with him and even feuded with the dancer (pictured with Laura Whitmore)
It has now been reported that Amanda, 51, has demanded bosses hand over footage of her rehearsals with Giovanni after they clashed while working together (pictured)
Speculation: In her exit statement, Amanda thanked her team, but fuelled rumours of feud with Giovanni by failing to mention the dancer
Despite this his former celebrity partners complained they felt ‘uncomfortable’ with him and even feuded with the dancer as it is reported his last partner Amanda Abbington has ‘demanded footage of their rehearsals’.
The professional dancer, 33, withdrew from the competition last year after his partner Amanda Abbington decided to leave for ‘personal reasons’ and caused a stir when she kept the dancer out of her exit statement.
At the time, some suggested she found Giovanni’s ‘militant’ style of training hard to deal with and her time on the show was said to have been ‘plagued by difficulties’.
It was reported that Amanda, 51, has demanded bosses hand over footage of her rehearsals with Giovanni after they clashed while working together as she apparently hopes it will ‘back up’ her claims against the singer.
Amanda is said to want to review the recordings of their time together as she seeks legal advice over his alleged behaviour towards her.
Sources close to the star have also claimed Amanda has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the wake of her departure from the series.
An on-set source told The Sun: ‘The BBC have received a request for the footage they hold of Amanda and Giovanni. It is known as a data subject access request.
‘There is a feeling that the recordings will lift the lid on what really goes on behind the scenes on Strictly. Things in rehearsals can become very tense.
‘Giovanni is a perfectionist and he can be incredibly full-on.’
A friend of Amanda told the publication it has taken her months to recover from her Strictly experience.
‘Amanda has been left broken and saddened by the whole experience. She has needed therapy and was left in shock by the behaviour she was exposed to,’ they said.
They added: ‘Everyone else was having a fabulous time, but she was really stressed by having to spend eight hours a day with Giovanni. She spent a lot of time crying and couldn’t sleep or eat properly.’
The pal said Amanda found the negative response she got on social media for not mentioning Giovanni in her exit statement difficult.
Ranvir admitted that she had a ‘total meltdown’ during rehearsals with professional partner Giovanni (pictured together in 2020)
Meanwhile his 2022 partner Richie Anderson has unfollowed him on Instagram
In 2016, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore said she ‘cried every day’ and felt ‘uncomfortable’ while training with him
Former partners have also come out to back him, including Debbie McGee, the widow of the magician Paul Daniels, who was paired with him in 2017
But they insisted her family and friends had been there to support her.
However it isn’t the first time Giovanni’s celebrity partners have had issues with his intense training style.
In 2016, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore said she ‘cried every day’ and felt ‘uncomfortable’ while training with him.
She later wrote for HuffPost UK in 2018: ‘I’m still not ready to talk in depth about my experience on the show.
‘I was placed with a dance partner I was extremely uncomfortable with and in the end I felt broken, I cried every day. And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.’
Giovanni was also said to have fallen out with Good Morning Britain star Ranvir Singh in 2020.
Ranvir admitted that she had a ‘total meltdown’ during rehearsals with professional partner Giovanni.
The broadcaster told co-star Kate Garraway that she and the dancer had a ’20 minute divorce’ as things became tense in the training room.
Discussing the gruelling rehearsals with Kate, Ranvir admitted she had to walk out and take some time for herself after the dancer ‘put me in my place’.
It was also reported as recently as last year that he ‘feuded’ with Richie Anderson in 2022, who was his celeb partner the year before Amanda.
It was said at the time that the pair ‘hadn’t clicked’ since being coupled together and tensions were rising off camera.
Sources told The Sun during the time of filming that Giovanni was becoming frustrated with Richie not listening to him in rehearsals.
However, Richie later hit back at the reports and insisted there was ‘no problem’ between them during a joint appearance on spin-off show It Takes Two.