Strictly Come Dancing's Amanda Abbington's claims could be thwarted ahead of the "bullying" investigation coming to a close as Giovanni Pernice reportedly believed a secret recording of their training sessions could clear his name.
Abbington initially claimed she had PTSD from their time together after pulling out during week five of the competition - however, last week, the Sherlock star sat down with Channel 4's Krishnan Guru-Murphy and went into more detail about her ordeal.
During their conversation, she revealed the "relentless" trolling she and her family had suffered, there was an incident of a "sexual nature" and that six former partners of Pernice's had spoken to her after her initial complaint.
She told Guru-Murphy: "I know a lot of people went in to speak to them. I'm the official complainer. I think there's about five or six [other complainants] from what I can gather, but there's three main people, who've made complaints, mine's the official one."
The 33-year-old Italian has vehemently denied the allegations throughout the investigation and vowed to clear his name - which seems to be in his grasp as a six-and-a-half minute exchange between the pair has reportedly been given to the BBC.
According to the Sun, the recording was taken during the pair's final weeks on the show, where Abbington can be heard telling Pernice: "I know I'm a nightmare" and "You probably feel like throwing me out of a window".
Amanda Abbington could be heard telling Giovanni Pernice she was "a nightmare"
BBC
The audio - which allegedly includes the pair telling one another "love you" - comes from Pernice's legal team which in their hope will disprove Abbington's claims that the dancer was "abusive, cruel and mean".
A source close to Abbington however has labelled the move as "absurd" and told The Sun: "This tape has been billed as bombshell evidence, however it's the type of everyday discussions that go on between partners and pros that go on in rehearsals, which can, obviously, be very fraught.
"The idea that this is some kind of 'smoking gun' that will exonerate Giovanni from his alleged behaviour is absurd. The transcript is just dialogue between the pair, Amanda is being self-deprecating and was clearly trying to cope in a difficult situation, she had no idea Giovanni was secretly recording her."
GB News has contacted the BBC and representatives for both Pernice and Abbington.
The recording comes from Giovanni Pernice's team in a bid to clear his name
BBC
The alleged recording comes after it was claimed that hours of footage had been deleted and will never see the light of day, with a source telling GB News the move risks rendering the entire investigation as "fundamentally flawed".
They told The People's Channel: "This development, that hours of recorded footage has been deleted, changes everything. It throws up so many questions. Why was the footage deleted? And who decided to delete it?"
Despite this, GB News understands the BBC is still planning to announce the decision of its review within days.
A BBC insider also told GB News: "They want this done and dusted by next week so they can move on and focus on the new series.
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The blow to Amanda Abbington comes after she made more bombshell claims against the dancer
BBC
"They are confident that even without some of the footage they’ve gathered enough evidence from everyone involved to make a balanced decision on the complaint. But, at the same time, there are many within the BBC who are holding their head in their hands over this footage being deleted.
"It doesn’t look good and they know whatever they announce there will be claims of a cover-up and that this could see the crisis deepen and rumble on even longer."
