Strictly Come Dancing professional Pasha Kovalev has issued his verdict on the scandal surrounding the show as he admitted to feeling ‘sad and shocked’

Pasha Kovalev has shared his thoughts on the scandal hitting Strictly(Image: ITV)

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Pasha Kovalev revealed he is “shocked” at the show’s recent scandal.

The dancer appeared on Loose Women as he paid tribute to his late friend and fellow Strictly Robin Windsor following his death earlier this year. While on the show, Pasha was asked to give his verdict on the drama surrounding Strictly. It comes after actress Amanda Abbington has given a series of bombshell interviews about her experience on the show.

She was paired with Giovanni Pernice but quit the show early. Amanda claimed she was diagnosed with mild PTSD and has since opened up on the experience of speaking out about the show. Giovanni has strongly denied Amanda’s claims of “unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean” behaviour. Dancer Graziano Di Prima was dropped from the show this month following allegations of his behaviour to Zara McDermott.

Giving his opinion, Pasha admitted: “It is sad and shocking that we are in the situation we are now. We need to find ways not to let that happen again. I am sure a lot of people don’t believe it. Some people coming forward and not being heard.” He then urged: “We need to make an atmosphere to make sure everyone is heard. Everyone feel comfortable and have the best time of their lives because a lot of people do.”

The BBC launched an investigation following Amanda’s claims. Speaking about the investigation, Christine Lampard asked Amanda if she was feeling confident about it. She replied: “I hope so. I don’t know what is going to happen but I know what happened in that room and I know that I did nothing wrong. I left that show with my head held high knowing I did the best I could do.”

Pasha worked on Strictly for eight years

Amanda has opened up on her time on the show(Image: PA Media)

Amanda shared: “The producers got in touch with me a few times after I left. I have got nothing to hide, I did nothing wrong.” Allegations made by Amanda this month that Giovanni was “abusive, cruel and mean” were not included in the dossier. Insiders claimed this was because the BBC had done their own checks and decided they didn’t need to be put to Giovanni for him to respond to.

It comes after The Mirror revealed that Giovanni Pernice has told pals that he expects to be cleared by the BBC. Last week, Giovanni had a meeting with the BBC where he saw for the first time the results of their investigation. Insiders claimed this was because the BBC had done their own checks and decided they didn’t need to be put to Giovanni for him to respond to.

A source said: “This would suggest her more serious claims are without merit – and is a massive boost to Giovanni’s case. They have clearly done their own due diligence on some of her allegations and decided they didn’t warrant inclusion in what was needed to be shared with Giovanni for response.”

Amanda also revealed the exact moment things started to change for her while on the show as she sent a producer a jaw-dropping text. She said: “Week one. Third day. Ive got texts to producer on day three going, this is awful, he hates me, i dont know what im doing wrong.”

A spokesman for Giovanni Pernice has said: “We would urge people to wait for the review’s conclusion and not to pay heed to these very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them.”