This Morning viewers blast 'harsh' Craig Doyle and Christine Lampard for 'interrogating' Giovanni Pernice during 'uncomfortable' interview over Amanda Abbington Strictly scandal

This Morning viewers have blasted 'harsh' Craig Doyle and Christine Lampard for 'interrogating' Giovanni Pernice on Tuesday's show.

The professional dancer was on the show to promote his new book, Taking The Lead, in which he vents his fury at the BBC over its handling of the clash with Amanda Abbington in 2023 which led to his exit from Strictly. 

During the interview a frustrated Giovanni, 35, clashed with Craig as he insisted his aim wasn't to dredge up the scandal by writing his memoir. 

Fans vented on social media that they felt 'uncomfortable' watching the tense exchange as they called out the hosts' handling of the interview.

Craig was keen to highlight Amanda's 'side of the story' throughout the live segment, telling the pro dancer 'I get it you want to air your views' only for Giovanni to interrupt and firmly tell him 'it's the story of my life it's not a book dedicated to the investigation'.

'It's hard to move on when you put something like that in the book though,' Craig replied.

'The point of the book is to say thank you to all the people who supported me along the way,' rebuffed Giovanni.

'Second of all, instead of me going and giving every single possible interview, it was to write it down, what is actually factual and my point of view. I played by the rules, I waited until after the investigation finished. It's a part of my memoir, it's a part of my life.

'But it's the part of the memoir that gets it serialised and you on sofas' insisted Craig. A clearly frustrated Giovanni said 'the aim of the book was not to be sitting on This Morning.'

Fans shared their fury on X after the awkward interview aired as they felt Craig and Christine's opinions 'felt biased'.

Users commented: 'The presenters on This Morning were clearly very biased towards Amanda Abbington. Uncomfortable viewing. I’d be raging if I was Giovanni Pernice.',

'#thismorning why are the presenters being so hard on Giovanni, YET AGAIN. He's the innocent party in all of this. This morning should be ashamed of themselves. He's just promoting his book. No-one is interested in Amanda?'

'I was shouting at the telly … he was treated very unfairly … I think Craig was really harsh, but I bet he’s being told to say those things, he looked very uncomfortable …I was disgusted #thismorning,'

'I agree. Christine facial expression, tone and body language was dreadful. Communicating contempt and aggression. It was disgraceful.'

The Daily Mail has approached Craig and Christine's representatives for comment. 

The BBC investigated Giovanni over 16 allegations in total, upholding six and clearing him of ten of the most serious accusations. 

Giovanni reiterated that he was not sacked from the dance show, but rather his contract wasn't renewed. 

Craig began the tense interview by pointing out that in the dance world 'you do develop a relationship when you are training, which is kind of harsh'.

'When that world meets the showbiz world, like Strictly, how difficult is that when you are bringing that competitive nature, that harsh nature? Like with Amanda.'

Giovanni responded: 'I always say it depends on what you want to achieve.'

'Over the years on Strictly I've had nine celebrities, some of them were pushing me 'can we do more?' Some of them just want to do an hour, get paid and go home. It depends who you've got in front of you. Our job is to understand and to try and push them as much as we can.'

Craig then asked specifically about the 'breakdown' of Giovanni's relationship with Amanda and the allegations made against him.

Giovanni again insisted that he matched 'the tone set in the room' adding that he now feels comfortable to talk about the tough time because he was waiting for the end of the BBC investigation and for his mental health to recover. 

Craig told him though: 'I appreciate it was a tough time but it was also a tough time for Amanda. She wouldn't have gone through with the whole process, let's be honest, unless she felt there was something in it.'

'She also got a payout and she's saying now that you're kind of underplaying things. She's seeing this situation very, very differently than you.'

Giovanni replied, saying he has 'spoken facts, this is what was upheld, this is what was not upheld'. 

Craig interrupted to ask him if he can now reflect on the complaints that were upheld, asking 'do you see what you did wrong there now?' 

'I'm not here to justify myself, my life moved on, I'm happy now. I went to Italy, I won the same show in a different country. I did have my small revenges in life, and now I've got a new girlfriend who makes me very happy.'

Christine then read out a statement via Amanda's spokesman.

It read: 'In the past fortnight Mr Pernice has persisted in trying to reframe the BBC Investigation and the findings that it made against him.

'To suggest he has not been given the chance to give his side of the story is ludicrous given the thorough investigation conducted by the BBC which he was a part of, but - unsurprisingly - seems unhappy with the outcome.

'To suggest that the findings against him related only to use of swear words is also wrong, but both parties were asked to keep the contents of the Investigation Report confidential.

'Following the investigation the BBC apologised to me and paid me substantial compensation: that speaks for itself.'

Giovanni, who won the Italian version of Strictly in 2024 with his now-girlfriend Bianca Guaccero was asked by Christine if he had 'changed his approach with his new partner' whilst on the Italian show. 

'You asked me the same question last time we did an interview' Giovanni tersely replied. 'And I will answer the same way.' 

He reiterated that he didn't feel a need to revise his training methods after leaving Strictly, insisting 'if you want to succeed, there is only one way to succeed. Commitment, resilience, get a trophy, go home.

'That's what it is. I demonstrate this doing the same job in a different country and winning and we came in second last year.'

He noted that sometimes the approach can 'change', but claimed that can't happen if he thinks 'in the room everything is going perfectly'.

'Honestly, I haven't got any bad feeling towards Amanda. I think she wants to move forward, I have moved forward a long time ago.

'As she said, we're supposed to keep everything private and confidential. This is my first interview after two years.'