Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kristina Rihanoff has doubled down on the ‘shocking’ misconduct probes that are ‘fatally tarnishing’ the show.
The Russian dancer, 46, who starred on Strictly from 2009 until 2015, shared her thoughts on the ongoing allegations of abuse from professionals.
Graziano Di Prima was sacked after five years on Strictly in the wake of claims that he hit and kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott.
It came after Amanda Abbington’s allegations that Giovanni Pernice ‘bullied’ her during rehearsals.
During an appearance on Monday’s GMB, the former pro claimed that her rehearsals were always filmed with members of crew present as she defended the show.
Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kristina Rihanoff, 46, has doubled down on the ‘shocking’ misconduct probes that are ‘fatally tarnishing’ the show
The Russian dancer, who starred on Strictly from 2009 until 2015, shared her thoughts on the ongoing allegations of abuse from professionals
Kristina, who worked closely alongside Giovanni, said she was ‘shocked’ to here of the allegations against him because he was ‘always a great person to work with’.
However, she added that it’s very ‘difficult’ to comment on how professionals work when they are training another celebrity in private.
Speaking to hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Richard Madeley, she said: ‘It did come as a shock especially about Giovanni because I worked with him on the show.
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‘And like I said previously in my experience, in professional environment, of group numbers, he was always a great person to work with.
‘However it’s very difficult to comment because we’ve never been with another pro, training another celebrity together in the same room, that never ever ever happens so you can’t really tell how everyone is with their celebrities.
‘Back in my days on Strictly, we always were filmed. Every single second of our rehearsals was filmed.’
She added: ‘It was kind of a rule, I was explained why but we always had cameras. We were prohibited to do any practice, with any celebrity without cameras rolling and I think that’s the right way because then the proof is there when you look back at the videos.’
Stressing once again that the vetting process should be much stronger than what it used to be, Kristina said she had to go through a ‘very’ in depth interview in order to star on the show.
Graziano Di Prima was sacked after five years on Strictly in the wake of claims that he hit and kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott
It came after Amanda Abbington ‘s allegations that Giovanni Pernice ‘bullied’ her during rehearsals
During an appearance on Monday’s GMB, the former pro claimed that her rehearsals were always filmed with members of crew present
Kristina, who worked closely alongside Giovanni, said she was ‘shocked’ to here of the allegations against him because he was ‘always a great person to work with’
However, she added that it’s very ‘difficult’ to comment on how professionals work when they are training another celebrity in private
Speaking to hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Richard Madeley, she said: ‘It did come as a shock especially about Giovanni because I worked with him on the show’
She added: ‘There needs to be a proper vetting process. When I was offered to do the show, I had to do a very in depth interview, had to present all my professional qualifications.
‘I had to present a lot of references from the dancing bodies in American who knew me and which umbrella I worked.
‘So I had a lot of references who I am, who I was. I had 10 years teaching experience. A lot of people who were on the show at the time had the same kind of pedigree.’
The dancer flew from the US to be interviewed for 45 minutes on camera, and had to demonstrate her teaching style for the Cha Cha Cha and Waltz using a runner as a pretend student.
Kristina – who is engaged to her former celebrity partner Ben Cohen – then returned to America and filed huge amounts of paperwork detailing her certification regarding various dance styles, as well as teaching qualifications and character profiles.
She had 10 years of experience teaching dance by the time she was being hired for the show, something she feels may be lacking in the current cast.
It comes after Kristina said that while some of the professionals on the show now might be great dancers, the job is mainly to teach in a way that a celebrity can understand and that helps them flourish.
It comes after Kristina said that while some of the professionals on the show now might be great dancers, the job is mainly to teach in a way that a celebrity can understand and that helps them flourish
She had 10 years of experience teaching dance by the time she was being hired for the show, something she feels may be lacking in the current cast (Kristina pictured with former celebrity partner and now-fiance Ben Cohen in 2014)
Kristina said that when she applied to be on the show in the noughties, she went through a serious vetting process (Pictured with celebrity partner Simon Webbe in 2015)
Graziano was sacked after five years on Strictly in the wake of claims that he hit and kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott
Speaking to Lorraine last week, she said: ‘All of the pros from my years on the show, we all came from competitive backgrounds.
‘We all were teaching – and teaching for some time – so we had that experience of teaching people.’
‘That is the main job, not that you can stand on your head and do cartwheels in a group number.
‘That’s all well and good but at the end of the day it is about teaching ability and I think some of the pros who are very young, they probably don’t have the teaching experience.’