Former Strictly star Giovanni Pernice has admitted that he was willing to ditch friend Kai Widdrington in an attempt to win Celebrity Hunted.
The Italian dancer has teamed up with Kai for the Channel 4 show and marks his return to British TV after competing on Strictly for the last time in 2023.
Giovanni remained in the headlines last year after a long investigation took place about his behaviour behind the scenes on Strictly. In the end, the BBC cleared Giovanni of physical aggression towards his dance partner Amanda Abbington. However, the corporation upheld six of the 17 complaints.
Giovanni Pernice to star in Celebrity Hunted
The premise of the show sees the pair compete against five other famous pairings being chased across the UK by a team of former cops. Known for his competitive personality, Giovanni has confessed that he’s willing to ditch his pal Kai to improve his chances of winning.
“It was super stressful. Me and Kai are the best of mates, but I’m very competitive and he is not at the same level when it comes to competitiveness. In fact, you will see we split up. I was thinking, I want to win this, but Kai was thinking about where we could stay that was nice.
“He was like: ‘Here is cool, it’s relaxed, it’s warm, let’s eat.’ And I was like: ‘I don’t need to eat. I don’t want to be warm. I want to escape the Hunters!’”
‘There were a few times we nearly got caught’
During their mission, Giovanni revealed there were “a few times we nearly got caught”. As a result, he told Kai that they needed to split up because Giovanni “really wanted to win this”. As a result, Kai agreed to the decision. But will it pay off?
Following their time on the show, he believes viewers will learn more about what he and Kai are like away from Strictly.
“We bicker and argue like an old married couple. Hopefully it’s going to be entertaining. But it is genuinely us being ourselves. It’s not put on,” Giovanni said.
Celebrity Hunted stars Sunday (January 5) on Channel 4 at 9pm.
Read more: Strictly star Giovanni Pernice ‘confirms’ new romance with show co-star Bianca Guaccero
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