BBC gives Giovanni Pernice the green light to dance on Italian show Strictly amid bullying controversy

“He’s a professional,” he told the Telegraph. “To achieve a goal, he invests energy and effort like everyone else.

“It can sometimes happen, and it happened to me, that during a live broadcast the adrenaline makes you do or say things that you wouldn’t normally do or say, but the most important thing, in my opinion, is this goal, the achievement of the goal.

“Of course you can’t cross certain boundaries, but I don’t think Giovanni, as far as I know him, has crossed them.”

Ms Carlucci said she had known Pernice for many years and insisted the BBC had approved his involvement in the Italian program, which is broadcast on Saturday nights by state broadcaster RAI.

The Telegraph understands that any casting decisions for Ballando con le Stelle are a matter for the Italian program and not the BBC.

Current celebrities on the Italian show include Federica Pellegrini, the former Italian Olympic swimmer, and Alan Friedman, the 68-year-old American financial journalist and author.

Ms Carlucci said the BBC had a different rehearsal process to the Italian program and said this had made it difficult to verify claims against Pernice.