Giovanni Pernice

Giovanni Pernice (born 5 September 1990) is an Italian professional dancer based in the United Kingdom, best known for his appearances on the British television show Strictly Come Dancing.

Pernice was born on 5 September 1990 in Sicily, and at the age of 14 he moved to Bologna to concentrate on dance.

He chose to become a dancer after watching the British ballroom dance television show Come Dancing.

Pernice is a member of the Federazione Italiana Danza Sportiva, part of the World DanceSport Federation, and he competed at Youth and Adult levels between 2007 and 2014.

His competition dance partners include Erika Attisano (2011–2014) and Alexandra Koldan (2014–2015).

He is also an Italian Open Latin Dance Champion (2012), and the Guinness World Record holder for Jive kicks and flicks, as well as Charleston swivels.

Specialising in Latin style, Pernice has won a number of competitions, most notably, the Italian Open Championship in 2012.

Other notable results include coming second place in the International Open Latin in Slovenia in 2014, and wins in other Open competitions in Pieve di Cento, Italy (2011); Ancona, Italy (2011); San Marino (2011) and Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain (2011).

They were eliminated in Week 7 in a dance-off with Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton, the eventual Series 14 champions, and finished in 9th place.

In 2015, Pernice appeared as a professional dancer on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing for the first time in its thirteenth series.

He was partnered with former Coronation Street actress Georgia May Foote.

They reached the final of the competition but finished as joint runners-up alongside Kellie Bright and her professional partner, Kevin Clifton.

In 2016, Pernice returned to Strictly Come Dancing for its fourteenth series.

He was partnered with television presenter Laura Whitmore.

Pernice is the current Guinness World Record holder for Jive kicks and flicks, performing 55 in 30 seconds in a challenge held in December 2016.

In 2017, Pernice returned to Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer for its fifteenth series.

His celebrity partner was Debbie McGee, a television and radio presenter and former ballet dancer.

They reached the final of the competition, finishing as joint runners-up alongside Alexandra Burke and her professional partner Gorka Márquez, and Gemma Atkinson and her professional partner Aljaž Škorjanec.

The next year, in December 2017, he broke the world record for the most Charleston swivel steps in 30 seconds, correctly completing 24.

Both records were achieved on It Takes Two with supervision by Guinness World Records.

The couple were runners-up.

Due to an ankle injury, Whitmore was unable to dance in week 5 and the couple were given a bye to progress to the next week.

In 2018, Pernice competed in the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Steps singer Faye Tozer.

For the third time in four years, Pernice reached the final, finishing as joint runners-up alongside Joe Sugg and his professional partner Dianne Buswell, and Ashley Roberts and her professional partner Pasha Kovalev.

In 2019, Pernice was partnered with television and radio personality Michelle Visage for the show's seventeenth series.

They reached week 9 of the competition, before being eliminated in a dance-off with Saffron Barker and AJ Pritchard.

In 2020, Pernice reached the semi-final of the eighteenth series with his partner Ranvir Singh, before being eliminated in a dance off with Jamie Laing and Karen Hauer.

In 2021, Pernice won the nineteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, with EastEnders actress, Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Ayling-Ellis was the first deaf contestant to appear on the show.

In the series’ Halloween special, Ayling-Ellis and Pernice received the earliest 40 throughout Strictly history with their Tango.

The pair also received an 'Unmissables' Award from Heat for the silent moment in their Couple's Choice routine.

In 2022 Pernice was partnered with television and radio presenter Richie Anderson.

They were eliminated in week 3 after losing the dance off to Fleur and Vito making it the earliest week Pernice has ever been eliminated in.

In 2023 Pernice was partnered with actress Amanda Abbington.

On 20 October 2023, it was announced that due to medical reasons, Abbington and Pernice would have to miss that Saturday's appearance on the show.

She withdrew from the competition three days later.

As a Strictly professional dancer, Pernice holds the record for most tens ever awarded, with a total of 98.

He has topped the weekly Strictly leaderboard more times than any other pro in the history of the show.

He is also informally known as 'The King of Halloween', as he has topped the leaderboard during Halloween Week for every series he has competed in and still been in the competition during the Halloween Special.

Pernice has also appeared on a number of episodes of BBC Two's Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.