Ratings plummet amid backstage bullying allegations | TV and Radio

Ratings for Strictly Come Dancing have plummeted as the BBC was rocked by allegations of behind-the-scenes bullying, prompting an investigation.

The allegations emerged after Amanda Abbington accused her dance partner Giovanni Pernice of bullying; This coincided with Graziano Di Prima’s dismissal for his behavior towards Zara McDermott.

As a result, viewers for the show on Saturday, September 28 dropped to 7.1 million from last year’s 7.8 million, continuing the downward trend since the previous week’s launch episode.

A television source told The Sun: “It’s still the most-watched show on Saturday nights, reaching twice the audience of its closest rated rival. And although catcher ratings are rising, BBC “He has always taken pride in the fact that dance performance provides a shared experience.”

They continued: “But it seems like fewer people are now choosing to share it on Saturday night.”

Reports noted that figures for the September 28 episode had dropped by more than 3.5 million since 2020, when the series boasted 11.8 million viewers. Mirror.

Last week’s episode Definitely Come Dance It peaked with 6.7 million viewers, a decrease from the previous year’s 7.3 million viewers. This was before the allegations reached their current level of heat.

The launch show reportedly drew 5.7 million viewers, one million less than the same episode in 2023, according to The Sun. Some have suggested that the scandal involving Giovanni and Graziano may have contributed to the loss of viewers.

However, BBC It has not yet released figures showing how many people prefer iPlayer for live streaming.

In related news, Giovanni moved on to Ballando con le Stelle, the Italian version of the show, and impressed both the judges and fans with his performance, receiving an impressive score of 37 out of 40. This comes amid an ongoing four-month investigation following Amanda Abbington’s allegations that Giovanni bullied her during training sessions.

The Italian dancer vehemently denies all allegations against him.

Amanda criticized his teaching methods and described his behavior as “unnecessary, abusive, cruel and rude”. He vehemently denied all allegations. The results of the investigation into Giovanni’s training techniques will be announced next week. Interviewed on Channel 4 News, Amanda compared the BBC program to “trenches” and claimed the broadcaster’s producers were “horrified” by the footage supporting her accusations of “degrading behavior of a sexual nature”.

An insider reportedly told The Sun that the BBC plans to inform all parties involved in the investigation early next week, but only a few details will be made public.

Definitely Come Dance open BBC One each on Saturday and Sunday and BBC iPlayer