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After a tumultuous few months, Giovanni Pernice is ending 2024 on a high after winning the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing and embarking on a new romance with dance partner Bianca Guaccero.
Indeed, things appear to be going so swimmingly for the pair that the Italian hunk, 34, even vowed to marry the actress, 43, as they celebrated their epic victory last weekend.
‘If we win the show, I’ll seriously think about it,’ Giovanni claimed of popping the question after the couple performed a breathtaking tango.
The pair confirmed their romance in November, with Bianca at the time claiming she had ‘difficulty believing in true love’ until she met him.
Bianca also declared that she had ‘never felt as secure and loved’ as she does with the dancer, who is almost 10 years her junior.
‘After a long time, there is someone who takes care of me and cares about me,’ Giovanni said.
After a tumultuous few months, Giovanni Pernice is ending 2024 on a high after winning the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing and embarking on a new romance with dance partner Bianca Guaccero
Indeed, things appear to be going so swimmingly for the pair that the Italian hunk, 34, even vowed to marry the actress , 43, as they celebrated their epic victory last weekend
‘A woman like her has been missing from my life.’
‘He’s goofy and crazy, and that made me fall in love with him. It had been a long time since I felt happiness in my heart,’ Bianca added.
The two met when he joined the Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, earlier this year following his exit from Strictly Come Dancing amid the Amanda Abbington bullying row.
And it wasn’t long before the two were setting tongues wagging thanks to their sizzling chemistry both on and off the dancefloor.
During a chat with The Mail last month, Giovanni dodged answering whether romance was on the cards for the pair but did muse: ‘Well, she’s single’.
Giovanni added: ‘She’s 43. She’s got a child, she’s brilliant. She comes to rehearsals.
‘It’s definitely a place of happiness, I’m happy to be able to do what I love to do.’
When asked if the pair had ever kissed in rehearsals, Giovanni replied coyly: ‘All I’m interested in is Bianca. She’s great, she’s a fantastic dancer. We broke the record of the most tens on the show! In 19 years of history.’
‘If we win the show, I’ll seriously think about it,’ Giovanni claimed of popping the question after the couple performed a breathtaking tango.
The pair confirmed their romance in November, with Bianca at the time claiming she had ‘difficulty believing in true love’ until she met him
The professional dancer debuted on Ballando Con Le Stelle after leaving the British series after almost 10 years because of a BBC investigation into Amanda Abbingdon’s claims that he bullied her during last year’s series (Giovanni and Amanda pictured)
They did, however, set tongues wagging when they shared a kiss on the show, locking lips after performing a sensual Rumba routine.
Viewers also remarked on the sexual chemistry between them.
A friend of the Sicilian star said: ‘Giovanni is looking to the future and he loves dancing with Bianca, and he has a twinkle in his eye, and never more so than when you mention her.
‘She is the perfect person for him to have been partnered with after the whole Amanda saga. He has been through a really difficult time and was thrilled to be dancing again but didn’t realise he would have someone as wonderful as Bianca to do that with.’
The pair have since proudly spoken of their romance, with Giovanni declaring that Bianca was his ‘priority’, just weeks before their show victory.
In a videoclip introducing their routine last month, Giovanni has said: ‘Bianca is my priority. She has been my priority from the beginning. She is still my priority today and will be until the end of the show and beyond.’
‘Being someone’s priority is something new for me. I have always been the one taking care of others’, replied an emotional Bianca as she struggles for words.
‘It’s an amazing feeling. It’s something I’m discovering at the age of forty-three.’
‘Having someone next to me who is proud of me and is happy for my happiness is something new to me. This had never happened to me in my life.’
While Giovanni added: ‘I don’t know what will happen in the future but we are on the right track.’
Interviewed by Monica Setta for Storie di Donne al Bivio (Stories of Women at the Crossroads) which aired on December 21, Bianca promised her partner she is ready take things further.
The two met when he joined the Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, earlier this year following his exit from Strictly Come Dancing amid the Amanda Abbington bullying row
‘Dear Giovanni, I promise you to leave out all my fears, doubts and closures. The symbolic gift I put under the Christmas tree is to believe in our possibilities’. the Italian star said in the interview.
In the last few weeks, Giovanni and Bianca have been getting to know each other, with her visiting him in London and Giovanni meeting her family in Bitonto, Southern Italy.
‘I had a heavy stone on my heart, I had difficulty believing in true love. When I met Giovanni I felt at home and I was in London with him and then 24 hours with my parents’, she continued.
‘I wanted to introduce him to the country and the people I love’.
Indeed, Bianca’s mother Rosa has expressed her seal of approval for her daughter’s new love.
‘I like him as a person’, she shared, before giving her opinion on their romance.
She added: ‘Bianca has never said it to me explicitly but love doesn’t need to be announced, you see it and you feel it and that is enough.’
Bianca declared that she had ‘never felt as secure and loved’ as she does with the dancer, who is almost 10 years her junior
‘He’s goofy and crazy, and that made me fall in love with him. It had been a long time since I felt happiness in my heart’
The couple secured the first title in a tense finale, beating Olympic champion Federica Pellegrini and her pro partner Pasquale La Rocca.
Model Federica Nargi and Luca Favilla, who were also a favorite couple to win the show, reached third place.
The BBC cleared the Sicilian of ten out of 16 allegations when its probe concluded in September.
Six of the claims were upheld, some included bullying and harassment, which prompted an apology from BBC bosses.
The new romance comes off the back of a string of high profile romances for the star.
In the last few weeks, Giovanni and Bianca have been getting to know each other, with her visiting him in London and Giovanni meeting her family in Bitonto, Southern Italy
When paired with Coronation Street actress Georgia May Foote in 2015 – Giovanni’s first year on Strictly – they began dating.
He also found love with singer Ashley Roberts who appeared on Strictly in 2018 though they were not a pair – she danced with Pasha Kovalev.
Meanwhile, Bianca split with her director husband Dario Acocella in 2017. The couple have a daughter called Alice.