Giovanni Pernice has admitted he thought the Strictly Come Dancing bullying row would be the 'end of his career' as he reflected on the 'dark moments' he faced.

The professional dancer, 34, was forced to leave the British show last year amid a probe into his behaviour, after he was accused of abuse by his former celebrity partner, Amanda Abbington.

Giovanni was cleared of ten out of Amanda's 16 allegations when the BBC probe concluded in September but remained absent for the current edition of the series.

The BBC's report cleared him of the most serious accusations of physical aggression, but upheld some of verbal bullying and harassment. 

Reflecting on the year, he told The Mirror in a new interview: 'I'm not going to lie, there were dark moments in terms of, you know, this is finished, this is the end of my career. That was one of my down moments. 

'Sorry for my language but 2024 can f**k off. I've been looking forward to seeing the back of it.'

Commenting on Amanda's bombshell claims, he continued: 'Every time she came out with another interview I was always maintaining a calm inside. Trust me, it wasn’t easy, there were dark times.'

Giovanni's new comments come after he proved that he has not lost his competitive edge after his break from British TV as he ditched fellow Strictly pro Kai Widdrinton in an effort to win Channel 4's Celebrity Hunted.

Celebrity Hunted sees a group of stars, AKA Fugitives, go on the run across mainland UK for 14 days as they are chased by the Hunters - a handpicked team of police and military personnel.

Hunters have access to all of the celeb's personal information and use the 'powers of the state' to locate and capture them, including cyber forensic technology, ANPR, CCTV, helicopters, drones, dogs and call tracing.

They even use social media to bribe members of the public or captured contestants with monetary rewards in exchange for information on the celebs whereabouts.

Those who successfully evade capture for 14 days must reach a designated 'extraction' point on the final day before winning £100,000 for Stand Up To Cancer.

The Strictly pros are among six famous pairings participating in the suspenseful gameshow but Giovanni was prepared to throw Kai under the bus to win the show himself.

He said: 'It's exciting to be back on British TV. It's been too long!'

'It was super stressful. Me and Kai are the best of mates, but I'm very competitive and he is not at the same level when it comes to competitiveness.

'In fact, you will see we split up. I was thinking, "I want to win this", but Kai was thinking about where we could stay that was nice.

'He was like, "Here is cool, it's relaxed, it's warm, let's eat". And I was like, "I don't need to eat. I don't want to be warm. I want to escape the Hunters!".'

Giovanni explained that Kai's slower pace nearly got them caught by the Hunter's a few times.

He said: 'There was a few times we nearly got caught. So I said to him, "We have to split because I really need to win this".'

Kai gracefully obliged with the hope that the plan would double their chances of winning.

The pair turned to Celebrity Hunted alumni and fellow Strictly pro Katya Jones for help as she went on the last season of the show with her Olympian best friend Aimee Fuller.

Recalling her advice, Kai said: 'She said basically be on it all the time because you never know where the Hunters are. They could be anywhere.'

As well as his Hunted appearance, Giovanni also featured heavily in Strictly's 20th anniversary special and  was lauded for his groundbreaking dance with deaf partner Rose Ayling Ellis in 2021.

The pair stunned audiences when halfway through their performance to Clean Bandit's Symphony the music stopped but the dance continued.

The special performance was dubbed the 'greatest dance of all time' on Strictly.

And after a tumultuous few months, Giovanni ended 2024 on a high as he won the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing and embarked on a new romance with dance partner Bianca Guaccero.

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.

Meanwhile, it has reportedly been revealed that Amanda has rejected a huge money offer to star in the upcoming series of CBB for fear of being trolled online.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: 'Amanda decided to discreetly turn down the offer because she felt so traumatised by the last reality TV contest she was on.

'She couldn't face going through all the trolling that she received when she complained about Giovanni which made her feel like public enemy number one.

'Of course, the fee for taking part would have been appreciated but she just couldn't face it.'

The source added that Amanda has nothing against CBB and is a fan of the show herself.

MailOnline contacted Amanda's representatives for comment.