Giovanni Pernice

Back for another year of dancing magic on Strictly, it's the one and only Giovanni Pernice!

He first entered the Ballroom with a bang back in 2015, reaching the Grand Final with Coronation Street actress Georgia May Foote. Their Charleston got a clean sweep of 10s, but ultimately the win went to Jay McGuiness and Aliona Vilani.

With his eyes on the prize in 2016, Giovanni reached Week Seven with partner Laura Whitmore, later making it to the Final for the second time with Debbie McGee in 2017.

In 2018 Giovanni partnered up with Steps singer Faye Tozer and made it to the Grand Final once again! A year later he took his celeb partner Michelle Visage to Blackpool, where their Strictly journey unfortunately ended. 2020 saw Gio nearly go all the way once again, making it to the Semi-Final with newsreader Ranvir Singh.

But at long last, 2021 proved to be Giovanni's year, seeing him lift the Glitterball trophy with Strictly's first ever deaf competitor, EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis! An unforgettable moment for so many reasons. In 2022, he danced with BBC Radio 2 presenter Richie Anderson, but became the second couple the leave the show during Movie Week.

He's back for another year and hoping to reach for the trophy again in 2023 with actor Amanda Abbington.

Giovanni was born in Sicily and knew from a young age that he wanted to dance. At the age of 14, he moved to Bologna to concentrate on his passion and was taught by some of the best teachers in the world.

Though his greatest achievement to date is winning the Italian Championships in 2012, Giovanni has competed in numerous international dance competitions, first competing as an adult in 2008.