Zara McDermott showed signs of 'fear' of 'arrogant' Graziano Di Prima in final Strictly chat, says expert

Shortly after McDermott released a statement about her experience and admitted that she was "scared" to speak up, a representative of Di Prima's confirmed that the star recalled "kicking" her during their training.

Mark Borkowski told the BBC: "There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that is right. And he knows that. He knows he's made a mistake. He apologised at the time."

Di Prima allegedly does not remember the incident very well but did not deny that a kick was involved and knew that he "crossed the line" - but did deny ever spitting at McDermott.

In a statement released after his sacking, Di Prima explained he "deeply regrets the events that led" to his departure and let his "passion" for the show and dance get in the way - the Italian is now reportedly taking legal action against the broadcaster.

Now, body language expert Darren Stanton has told GB News that he felt McDermott was "fearful" of Di Prima throughout their time together, with the signs being prominent in their final It Takes Two interview.

Stanton explained: "There is a lot of interesting stuff in there. She is very intimidated by him, she demonstrates quite a lot of what we call submissive behaviour and gestures.

"The amount of space that we occupy is linked to our self-esteem and confidence. People become less animated and I noticed that with her when she was perfectly normal, she was quite an animated person but certainly in their last interview and the latter end of the competition.

"She is quite small anyway but she brought her shoulders in and her arms aren't that animated. She flashes a couple of times a fear of micro-aggression. I am not saying she is afraid of him directly, it was almost like she was playing to him, and then there are a couple of creepy moments where the interviewer said 'What will you miss the most?'

"And she went 'Oh this person' and I felt a bit uncomfortable because he's by contrast, he had his arms out and his legs flayed apart, and that is sort of arrogance.

"I noticed that Graziano was quite arrogant and a lot of the time he smiled the most faked emotion that we can display as a person, I saw quite a lot of masked smiles with Graziano.

"But I think all these people are going to have a competitive edge to them but I just felt there was something not quite right."

Alongside Pernice and Di Prima, Anton Du Beke, Ola Jordan, Janette Manrara and an unnamed female professional were all dragged into the scandal - with many former celebrities coming forward to explain their experiences.

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As the 20th-anniversary special approaches, it has been reported that the BBC have taken steps to introduce new rules which see a chaperone being in attendance during all rehearsals for all pairings.

Despite sparking the ongoing investigations - which have been reported to continue into the new year - Abbington is claimed to have "no interest in" seeing BBC Strictly axed.

A friend of the Sherlock star told GB News: "It’s absolute nonsense to suggest Amanda or any of the celebrities want to see Strictly cancelled. What those who have come forward to make complaints do want, is to see action taken which makes Strictly a safer environment for those signing up to be a part of.

"No one who made a complaint did it lightly. They did it because they felt it was absolutely the right thing to do."