Rose Ayling-Ellis has broken her silence after Giovanni Pernice was axed from Strictly Come Dancing. The former EastEnders actress, 29, was crowned winner of the BBC competition alongside Giovanni in 2021.
Just one day after the 2024 Strictly line-up was released, Rose shared an exciting announcement on Instagram. She is set to take part in BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, which sees celebrities discover more about their past as they face their family tree.
Rose will join Line of Duty’s Vicky McClure, TV presenter Paddy McGuinness, TOWIE star Gemma Collins, Olympian Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and singers Olly Murs and Mel C in the upcoming series.
Like Strictly Come Dancing, the show is celebrating its 20th anniversary. An announcement from Multitude Media said: “Today, alongside the BBC, our TV Team announced that ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ will be celebrating 20 years of delighting and astonishing the nation with another powerful series produced by our TV client @walltowalltv!”
The company listed the famous faces who will investigate their families’ pasts, not knowing what they might discover. They signed off the post by telling viewers that Who Do You Think You Are? returns to BBC One in the summer.
Rose reshared the post, adding the caption: “Very excited for this”. Giovanni has come under fire in recent months after three of his former partners, including Amanda Abbington, hired lawyers to pursue claims against him.
The Italian dancer has denied any allegations of “threatening or abusive behaviour” and said he was looking forward to “clearing his name”.
While Giovanni has been supported by a number of stars following the allegations, Rose has opted not to comment.
Rose and Giovanni struck up a close bond while dancing together in 2021, however their relationship seems to have cooled in recent months. The pair have even become subject of feud rumours over the past few weeks after Giovanni failed to support Rose on a huge announcement.
Rose, who made history after becoming the first ever deaf contestant to lift the Glitterball trophy, revealed she had been cast in an upcoming BBC revenge thriller, Reunion, in a post shared online.
She wrote: “I’m so excited to be joining William Mager’s Reunion and to be working alongside such a talented cast, whose work I have long admired. It is a very special project and an important moment for the deaf community’s representation on TV.”
Giovanni failed to publicly react to his co-star’s latest career milestone.
