It was recently confirmed Giovanni Pernice has quit Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show following the accusations made against him by his celebrity partner from last year, Amanda Abbington.
A body language expert has claimed that during their final interview together before Abbington decided to pull out of the show, the dancer made the Sherlock star's "skin crawl".
The actress accused Pernice of being "abusive" and "militant" in his training techniques, claiming she had been diagnosed with PTSD following her experiences with the Italian dancer.
Their time on the show was fraught rumours that the pair had clashed and there was an ongoing "feud" between them, and when Abbington decided to quit the competition early, rumours escalated further.
The two have made headlines since Abbington, 52, came out with the claims against 33-year-old Pernice, but body language expert Darren Stanton has pointed out the signs the pair were clearly uncomfortable with each other.
Shortly before her exit from the show, the two appeared on Strictly spin off show, It Takes Two, for a joint interview.
Abbington claimed she was diagnosed with PTSD following her experience on the show
BBC
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Stanton detailed the small body language revelations he spotted during the chat.
"So the first thing I noticed was that a lot of the smiles that she was giving to the interviewer were fake," he explained.
"They weren't the crow's feet, the three lines at the side of the eyes you get with a normal, genuine smile, where the whole face will be engaged.
"Whereas what tends to happen with a fake smile, which is the most faked emotion, is the crow's feet won't be there, and then you only really see it in the bottom half of the face.
Pernice won the 2021 show with EastEnders star Rose
Getty
"And then there were certain things that she did, like, if he was quite close to her, she kind of pulled her face.
"You know [as if to say] 'don't get too close to me,' like when you're next to somebody on the tube that that makes your skin crawl."
The expert went on to add that Pernice appeared to be awkward too and seemed "obsessive".
He commented: "I mean, he did allude to the fact that 'I'm a professional dancer, I'm very competitive.'
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Darren Stanton analysed the pair's final interview
BBC
"I guess it's true of a lot of them, though, are quite obsessive, like a lot of athletes, they are quite OCD with things with regards to their performance.
"So I think, yes, he did seem a bit like a taskmaster, you know, which is why I think they excelled so fast in the early stages of the competition."