What feud? Strictly’s Amanda Abbington lovingly describes pro partner Giovanni Pernice ‘like a little brother’ after hitting back at claims she ‘threatened to quit’ as they take to the floor for series’ first live show

Strictly’s Amanda Abbington once again batted away reports of a feud with pro partner Giovanni Pernice as they took the dance floor for the show’s first live episode on Saturday.

The actress, 49, described the dancer, 33, as being like ‘a little brother’ in the pre-recorded VT saying she ‘already loves him’, before going on to admit she hadn’t picked things up ‘as quickly as she wanted to’ during rehearsals.

The first live show saw all 15 couples perform for the first time with Nigel Harmon and Katya Jones on top of the leaderboard with 32 points and  Les Dennis and his partner Nancy Xu at the bottom with a disappointing 16.

Earlier on Saturday Amanda shared a video to Instagram where she rubbished the rumours of clashes with Giovanni in a foul-mouthed rant. 

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It follows claims she was ‘left shaken’ by his ‘militant and aggressive’ training style with tensions escalating between the pair.

What feud? Strictly’s Amanda Abbington, 49, once again batted away reports of a feud with pro partner Giovanni Pernice, 33, as they took the dance floor for the show’s first live episode on Saturday

Happy as Larry: The actress described the dancer as being like ‘a little brother’ in the pre-recorded VT saying she ‘already loves him’

But Amanda hit back saying she was ‘ignoring the bulls***’ as she insisted things are all good between her and Giovanni.  

The duo then took to the floor as they performed an elegant Viennese waltz to to Pointless by Lewis Capaldi, which earned a respectable 29 points from the judges.  

Shirley said: ‘Your fluidity, your sensitivity, your beautiful styling, you have this beautiful chemistry, I loved it.’

Anton advised Amanda to relax a little, saying: ‘It was all great, emotionally exquisite. I want you to breath, if there was another 30 seconds to go I think you may have passed out.’