Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis reportedly chose not to appear in the BBC show’s 20th Anniversary special on Saturday evening – despite her victory with pro dance partner Giovanni Pernice.
The EastEnders actress, 30, made history on the show as the first-ever deaf contestant and went on to win the glitterball trophy with Giovanni, 34, in 2021.
However, while her dances were fondly remembered on Strictly Come Dancing: 20 Fabulous Years, Rose was noticeably absent from the special, which aired on Saturday.
Giovanni left the show earlier this year after his former celebrity dance partner Amanda Abbington, 50, claimed he was abusive towards her and a bullying probe went underway. He was later cleared of ten of her 16 allegations.
And now sources have revealed that despite Rose loving her time on the show, she didn’t want to take part in the anniversary special as she didn’t wish to discuss her time with Giovanni.
A source revealed to The Sun: ‘Rose loved her time on the show, but didn’t want to discuss her time with Giovanni.’
They added: ‘She’s chosen not to speak about him and Amanda publicly.’
MailOnline has contacted the BBC and Rose’s representative for comment.
Another clip of the show featured former professional dancer Graziano Di Prima, 30, who was axed from the BBC show in July over reports he ‘hit and kicked’ his former partner Zara McDermott, 27, during rehearsals last year.
Former judge Arlene Phillips, 81, was also a guest on the show while tributes were paid to late stars including judge Len Goodman, host Bruce Forsyth, Caroline Flack, and dancer Robin Windsor.
The 20th-anniversary series of Strictly was somewhat tainted after the BBC show was embroiled in scandal in a year plagued with controversy.
Earlier this year, the BBC also failed to address the scandal during the launch episode even though the results of the misconduct investigation were still pending.
It all began last October when actress Amanda unexpectedly quit the show before claiming that her partner Giovanni was abusive towards her.
The Sherlock actress made a series of accusations about Giovanni’s teaching methods and described his behaviour as ‘unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean’. He strongly denies all of the claims.
Giovanni was suspended while a BBC probe went underway over the allegations made by Amanda and two other former celebrity partners.
In September, Amanda was deeply disappointed with BBC bosses over fears they were ‘protecting’ the dancer during the bullying probe.
After Giovanni, the show was hit with a fresh wave of scandal when Graziano was sacked in July for ‘kicking’ his partner Zara.
Zara explained she didn’t report the incidents at the time as she was ‘scared’ of backlash.
Instead, it was junior production staff who came forward to share what they had witnessed as the investigation into pro dancer Giovanni was taking place.
Zara told her followers that while much of her time on Strictly ‘was everything I could have dreamt of’ inside the training room with Graziano there were ‘particular incidents which are incredibly distressing’.