Kai Widdrington reunited with his axed Strictly Come Dancing co-star Giovanni Pernice as the pair continue to work with each other following the Italian dancer’s scandal

Giovanni Pernice has teamed up with a Strictly Come Dancing star

Strictly Come Dancing’s Kai Widdrington has reunited with his axed co-star Giovanni Pernice, in a move he labelled “dangerous”. The professional dancers are back working together on a new project, months after Giovanni’s sudden departure.

He was caught up in scandal following his 2023 stint with actress Amanda Abbington, who made a series of claims about bullying behaviour. Giovanni decided to take a break from the public eye following the scandal.

However, he recently won the Italian version of Strictly and has returned to the UK for a series of dance projects. His passion is clearly still alive as he performed a sold-out show at the London Palladium as part of his Last Dance tour.

Kai shared a snap of him at work with Giovanni(Image: Instagram/kaiwidd)

Now, Giovanni has teamed up with Kai, who is about to head out on his own tour. Gioavnni shared a snap of Kai on the dancefloor as he gushed: “Just watched a full run of his brand new show lead by @kaiwidd…

“…and let me tell you!! They are super ready.” He then added a link urging fans to buy tickets. Kai also shared his own post as he reunited with Giovanni.

The pair sat next to each other in a dance studio as Kai wrote: “The team,” while tagging Giovanni. He decided to add the Michael Jackson track Dangerous over the photo.

Back in January, Giovanni revealed he was working with Kai as he returned to British soil. Kai shared a video from a London rehearsal studio about his upcoming 2025 tour.

In the clip, he said: “Hello everyone, it’s Kai Widdrington here from Strictly Come Dancing. I’m here in London getting ready for my tour – Evolution – in 2025 and I would like to introduce you to one of the creative producers from my tour. He’s very shy but you may know who he is.”

His mate Giovanni popped into the frame adding: “I am very shy. I can’t help myself. I can’t help myself.” He rounded off with a cheerful statement: “Ladies and gents, we’re back together and it feels good!”

The video was paired with a caption hyping up fans which read: “Introducing one of the creative producers of the EVOLUTION team. A familiar face I think you may know.”

The dancers started working together in January (Image: Kai Widdrington Instagram)

However, things haven’t been so easy for the pair since Giovanni’s Strictly drama. Last summer, Kai pulled out of a scheduled dance class with Giovanni, which set fans back £100 per class. It was reported a scheduling clash was the reason for the cancellation.

Kai isn’t the only Strictly star to be showing their support to Giovanni, however. Head judge Shirley Ballas has continued to stand by the star and had a sweet reunion this week.

Shirley made sure to support Giovanni as she watched from the audience and made sure to catch up with him backstage afterwards on the final night of his tour.

Sharing photos from the reunion, Shirley said: “Amazing and beyond the stars… Gio set the night on fire last night @giovannipernice.

“Congratulations on a superb closing show to if last night is anything to go by a remarkable last dance tour. So many fabulous numbers, dancers, singers to which all were revived with standing ovations.

“You entertain, you inspire and you bring the house down. I only hope when I do my one night at the Palladium that I could wish for a reception like that. Truly amazing.”

She added: “Congratulations and well done my friend @giovannipernice I’m beyond proud of you x.”