BBC Strictly’s James Jordan and Brendan Cole poke fun at new chaperone rule amid show ‘abuse’ scandal

Former Strictly Come Dancing stars James Jordan and Brendan Cole mocked the accusations of “bullying” and “abuse” which hit the show earlier this year.

Ahead of the new series, which starts this Saturday, September 14, many have been wondering whether the BBC will conclude its investigation into the conduct and behaviour of Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima.

Pernice was accused by Amanda Abbington of bullying and noted an incident of a “sexual nature” had occurred – leaving the Italian dancer to deny any allegations made against him.

Di Prima was axed after a source claimed they saw the 30-year-old “kick, hit and spit” at celebrity partner Zara McDermott during their time together – with the dancer admitting to kicking her, however, denying all other accusations.

Since Abbington’s initial claims against Pernice, many more former stars have spoken out and made accusations towards their former partners, including Jordan and his wife Ola Jordan.

He was embroiled in the drama when footage resurfaced of his time with former partner Georgina Bouzova but clapped back at claimed their relationship was a positive one.

His wife was brought into the row after his previous partner Steve Backshall complained to the BBC that she had “bullied” him when they starred together in 2014.

Since the investigation began, show bosses implemented a new rule that all pairings will be joined by a member of staff to chaperone their training sessions to ensure no more claims against the professionals come to light.

Now, Jordan and Cole have poked fun at the new rule after Jordan posted a video on his Instagram story and could be heard joking: “This is what happens when you don’t have chaperones.”

The camera panned to Cole with blood pouring from his nose, as former Strictly pro Ian Waite apologised for “kicking him”, while Vincent Simone collapsed into laughter.

Jordan added: “So it’s happened already, Ian, Ian has hit Brendan on the nose, split his nose open, possibly broken. The girls are laughing, as if Brendan’s nose wasn’t big enough already, the blood is dripping.”

Cole jokingly shouted back: “Help me, help me”, with Waite adding: “Terrible, I feel so terrible, I’ve just broken Brendan’s nose! I feel so bad!”

It was recently reported that BBC bosses are full of “panic and worry” regarding the publication of the investigation report, with a source telling the Daily Mail: “This is an absolute mess and the BBC don’t know what to do for the best.

“There is a lot of panic and worry that whoever it does go in favour of will really go for the BBC, so every single word of whatever is released doesn’t give anyone the chance to complain.

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“They literally don’t know what to do so it is being delayed and delayed. [Director-General] Tim Davie is a good guy but this is impossible to navigate.”

Taking part in the series this year are DIY SOS star Nick Knowles, Olympic hockey champion Sam Quek, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, Gladiators star Montell Douglas, Olympic swimmer Tom Dean, and EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick.

Alongside them is Miranda star Sarah Hadland, Singer Shayne Ward, The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks, TV doctor Punam Krishan, Singer Toyah Willcox, Singer Wynne Evans, JLS star JB Gill, Comedian Chris McCausland.