Worried BBC producers spoke to Zara McDermott after witnessing Graziano Di Prima being verbally abusive in rehearsals.
But Zara told she them she was fine and the matter was considered resolved, insiders said. A source said: “In hindsight, Zara was clearly too scared to speak up and it’s heartbreaking that the full extent of what was happening wasn’t apparent.”
A senior producer was drafted in to speak to Di Prima after a member of the production team witnessed his behaviour in rehearsals. It’s understood that it related to bad language and the dancer was urged to be more “considerate with his training critique”.
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zara_mcdermott/Instagram)
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Image:
Instagram/zara_mcdermott)
Insiders said that the matter was “resolved at the time to everyone’s satisfaction” and that Zara was “asked if she was OK by a senior producer at the time.” A source added: “He used some choice language – he was tough in training and producers spoke to him about the way he was speaking to people. He understood he was being given a warning, and that his conduct had to change.”
It comes as it emerged Zara, 27, nicknamed Di Prima, 30, “sweet and sour” due to his fiery temper in a previous joint interview. “What do we call you? Sweet and Sour. Yes Sweet and Sour. He is very, very very sweet and then sometimes…..to be fair when you have told me something 52,000 times and I still get it wrong, you look at me like…and I still get it wrong,” says Zara.
He also told how Zara annoyed him by constantly drinking water in rehearsals and before they went live on Sat nights. Quizzed what her pre performance rituals were, Di Prima said: “I know what yours is. You keep drinking water. She has got an obsession with water and lip balm. Every-time she is stressed she put the lip balm on. She is like ‘I need to go to the loo’ and I am like ‘We need to dance in three seconds.’
Zara opened this week up about what she describes as harrowing experiences behind the scenes on the show. She said some footage of her during training sessions for the BBC programme last year was “incredibly distressing to watch”. Di Prima was axed from the show over claims of gross misconduct. He said his will to win may have affected his training style.
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It came after another pro dancer Giovanni Pernice was dropped from Strictly amid separate claims about his conduct, which he denies. BBC bosses have now made changes at the show as they battle to save it. Producers have introduced a chaperone into every session to monitor all the celebrities’ interactions with the professional dancers.
The BBC has also brought in two new welfare support roles, with one person on hand for the celebs and one for the pro dancers. Zara, who has also presented a string of BBC documentaries, told her two million Instagram followers this week: “I felt it was right that I post something regarding the recent media reports.
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“Strictly is one of the most magical shows on TV and one that I dreamt of being on since I was a little girl. When I was invited to be a contestant on the show it was a childhood dream come true. I fully understood the level of commitment and hard work that Strictly was going to be and I dedicated everything to it. I am a resilient person and I was fully prepared to put in whatever it took.
“So much of my Strictly experience was everything I could have dreamed of. The entire production team and everyone behind the scenes as well as my fellow contestants were so amazing to work with. However, my experience inside the training room was very different. Reports have been made about my treatment on the show and there were witnesses to some events, as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredibly distressing to watch.”
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