Yes! This is an Appreciation Thread and everything in it must be totally positive!

Nah, not really, I agree with you. So two people on a stressful project didn't always see eye to eye? Big whoop- am glad no one follows my life with a camera then.

Anyhoo, nothing against Laura and Georgia (both of whom I liked) but I have thought for a while that like Artem and Gleb before him, Giovanni could have his own appreciation thread where hi projects could be discussed. So with that in mind...

I am glad to see that Giovanni is embarking on a dance tour- good news. It's good that it's playing in smaller venues as well. Yeah I know that he'd probably like to be able to fill out the bigger ones but realistically a mid-carder pro like him isn't going to attract the following that some of the pros and celebs get just yet. Besides I think that I remember reading that Pashas tour last year played similar sized venues and everyone's got to start somewhere. Also, not everyone can afford the big ticket prices the Strictly Tour and the more established pro tours play at.

Exactly Sarah. A very big difference between minor disagreement on how well Laura and Gio got on backstage and insinuating on an App thread for Laura that there's truth to allegations she bullied him and sent him abusive texts.

Maybe I am old fashioned I just care about the truth always being printed. Unrealistic perhaps but that's just how I feel.

Ochre. I don't do insinuations, winking or otherwise. They make my teeth itch.

I speak very plainly. I find its the best approach. I am also happy to say that I don't know things that I don't know. So, I will repeat that I do not know what was said between Laura and Gio. I think its clear enough. That is the last time that I will repeat that point. It just gets boring for everyone else. Send me a PM if you like but keep the finger-wagging stuff off the thread please.

Please could you stop attributing to me (or anyone else) comments that I have not made and points of view that I don't hold.

Lets try to stay on topic. Cheers.

I'm glad Gio is giving it a whirl as well. He enjoys performance the most - think he has said that in interviews. It isn't easy to run a tour and he seems to be pitching at the right level to start with. I had in my mind that Pasha's was a good model as well. Anton and Erin toured in 2016 with 'star vocalist Lance Ellington, six world class ensemble dancers, and Richard Balcombe leading the London Concert Orchestra,'. That is a big, big commitment - not where you start.

I would guess you learn a LOT the first time round, there will be inevitably a few glitches and he can fine-tune for the following year.

If it's in the daily mail, rule of thumb, it's fabricated / inflated nonsense. I wear my 'hated by the Daily Mail' badge with pride.

I want to join your club. Can I have a badge too?

http://badgemonkey.com/hated-by-the-...ge-p-1650.html

Climb on board! Glad to have you. I think vast swathes of modern society qualify to join this club

Love it. I'm in. Some positivity at last!

I have no wish to send you a PM. This is an Appreciation thread for Laura and if negative insinuations about her continue to be made here or elsewhere then I'll challenge that, that's absolutely on topic for this thread. It's not just the lets sell tickets for Gio's tour thread

I didn't bring this up today nor pick apart the DM article sentence by sentence to try and prove the BBC had been involved in settling something on the quiet but did respond to your post on it.

I do believe in straightforwardness and being honest about my opinions and am absolutely clear that these allegations of bullying and abusive texts made against Laura are untrue, that I believe her word they're untrue and I also believe in the premise of innocent until proven guilty.

Hi - I'm only an occasional poster here but I'd say that far from being a thread trying to sell tour tickets for Gio (?!) - if anything I think there has been more (implied at least) negativity towards him than Laura here - everyone is, understandably I'm sure, very supportive of Laura. Just wanted to say that I certainly hadn't seen any bias towards him. For what it's worth, I doubt she bullied him as such but I do think that there must be kernels of truth in the stories of them falling out (and may well have come from their respective camps - who knows) . I hope that whatever issues they had, they weren't serious and if not serious that they can be civil enough to dance together in the finale, but I'm not sure

I don't see the point of continuing this subject. Whether they did or didn't fall cannot be proved either way for definite. Waste of time going round in circles. No one can produce any evidence to prove they actually fell out so until that evidence is produced we can only assume they didn't fall out. Case closed.

May I suggest you go to iPlayer to watch Brendan and Anastacia's final interview then watch Laura and Gio's interview and spot the differences. I think you will be reassured they will be very happy to dance again in the final.

I erm...<treads carefully here> don't think that mentioning Giovannis tour is an effort to sell tickets I just wanted to say I thought it was good news, that's all.

I'll admit to having more interest in Giovanni but I've got nothing against Laura, she seemed great on the show and I said earlier how sad it was that her Strictly experience went so awry. TBH I think she had really bad luck from start to finish and for the record I don't believe the bullying crap either. I don't think that it will have tarnished her reputation- I haven't spoken to any RL fans who've even heard of it TBH.

Giovanni rightly or wrongly gets some stick in both of his apparent appreciation threads. I am not saying that that's right or wrong, just peoples opinions, and given what's happened I can understand it, but as I said before perhaps it's time for him to get his own thread.

I've bitten my tongue in an effort not to say this so many times. Poor lad has been roundly abused in both his app threads on occasion. He probably deserves it. No smoke without fire etc. He might enjoy it.

I don't believe in the bullying crap either. I believe in the two strong characters with different world outlooks crap.

My feeling is that he gets far too much stick just because he is supposed to have walked away from a a very public relationship that wasn't working for him. A relationship that felt like some sort of fairytale because of Strictly. It is absolutely ridiculous. It wasn't a fairytale it was real life. Happens everyday with relationships. I am almost certain had he still been with Georgia he wouldn't be having this problem.

Well I don't think his falling out with Laura is anything to do with that!! And if anything - is due to their own respective personalities

EDIT - well that's assuming there's been a falling out, that is - which I know we have differing views on

The anti Gio feeling is caused by that though.

Unless you were fly on their training room wall you cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt there has been any falling out. It is ridiculous we are still talking about that.

Any anti Gio feeling on this thread certainly isn't caused by that - and its tenuous to suggest otherwise. If anything it's caused by the unspoken suggestion that he - or someone close to him - accused Laura of bullying

No of course I can't prove that they have fallen out - and nor do I have any agenda (or, to be honest, any desire) to do so but everything points to that. I don't see that it's ridiculous that people are talking about it at all

Of course you can't prove anything. No one can prove anything and please explain 'everything' .

Well you can probably guess what I mean by 'everything' - I don't have any new insight - we just have a different interpretation on it. And given that you don't want to go round in circles, I'm surprised you want me to recap. But you have asked what I mean by 'everything ' so I will clarify

I mean the backstage interview where Laura was clearly not happy with Gio, the unfollowing, the lack of thanks, the newspaper articles (which yes, I'm sure are exaggerated but are likely based on some kernal of truth that they probably fell out and that words were exchanged ), and Laura's effective confirmation of the original Sun article (whether it came from her camp or not - I don't know, but either way, she effectively confirmed it by clarifying that it was not that story that she was referring to when she was referring to 'lies') I would also add Gio's silence, but I do see that that could be interpreted in a couple of ways

I know you point to the ITT post eviction interview as a counterpoint and yes, they did seem warm with each other in parts (but then I doubt it was as black and white as them hating each other - I personally think they got on well until the end) but they also looked super awkward in parts too. I think we will just have to agree to differ on the point of whether they fell out or not

I think that they probably did fall out, a bit sorry.

But hey you can't get on with everyone, sh*t, I fall out with people every so often, and on a highly stressful, high profile project like that I can only imagine the strain of playing nice all the damn time so it's no big deal to me.

I think that the stories came because frankly the show and it's cast of pros and celebs has been so damn boring as far as gossip goes that press has been scrambling around for something.. anything to print about Strictly. I mean, it's usually good for filling a few pages at this time of year, a Andre style controversy, an inappropriately close partnership or two, a Glebalike bothering the floor. Good ol Strictly, always good for some low rent copy- I can only imagine the editors gleeful anticipation of what may fill their rags. Yet this year has been a positive desert of gossip for them, so much so that they've had to dig up some dirt about a few disagreements between Laura and Giovanni. Yawn.

Like I said, poor Laura had really bad luck on that bloody show, never mind her favourite, I'll be surprised if she ever watches it again.

From the minute she made her mistake Laura was not happy. Next the judges comments just added to her misery so much so she paid not attention to her scores. She was having difficulty holding herself together not angry with Gio. Claudia tried to comfort her but she was devastated. I think she knew at that point she was going home. No wonder she looked unhappy behind the scenes.

Laura' s handling of the newspaper articles I admit was a disaster. She deleted that tweet very quickly . She either realised how it could be interpreted or someone pointed it out. I
think she only meant to respond to the bullying claims. It was I am afraid an emotional response that hadn't been thought through.

As for their interviews I saw no awkwardness at all. The interview before the samba was the funniest. Both were in good form and totally relaxed with each other.

When they finished the dance off Laura walked across the floor with her arms out stretched towards Giovanni then put her arms around him. That was not the actions of someone who was annoyed in my book. The final interview they couldn't have sat any closer. The exchanges they had during the clips did not suggest any falling out. Laura. kept her arm/hand on Gio's arm during the clips and at the end she put her arm round his shoulders and held his hand when he turned away from the screen at the bit where the judges voted them out. Not the actions of someone who is in anyway annoyed with Gio.
There was also warmth in the hug they gave each other at the end. Sorry I just don't buy
falling out story Just to add the same journalists who decided to they had fallen out were saying the opposite two or three weeks earlier. I have said my bit. I am done with this forum until this discussion has finished. I see no point in continuing.

Open criticism from me of Gio's Samba choreo and his not publicly responding to the recent allegations made against Laura in his name yes. That hardly compares to the seriousness of suggesting there is truth to allegations Laura bullied him and sent him abusive texts. The poster I was responding to has repeatedly gone just so far in suggesting that.

In what Appreciation thread wouldn't the implication there is some truth to serious allegations of that nature against the thread subject be challenged? Noone has suggested for a moment Gio is a bully but I would also challenge that if that allegation were made.

My view is they're both strong, feisty characters, there were outside pressures from the beginning and an injury to contend with, they had different expectations of how their dance partnership would be and of other things such as joint public appearances and interviews for promotion and they clashed behind the scenes, something which came from both sides. Nothing more than that.

Mentioning selling tickets for Gio's tour was a jokey way to point out that everything Laura is very much on topic here and a response to attempts to hush discussion of recent news stories up to benefit Gio or subtly throw shade at her to paint him in a better light.

Gio having his own tour and needing to sell tickets in his name only does perhaps shed light on why there was such a vociferous response from that source in the Mail to the original Sun story. That reaction always seemed a little bizarre to me as the original Sun story really wasn't that big a deal and wasn't going to affect his future Strictly chances.

Laura could always dance with Brendan and Gio with Anastacia in the Final In all seriousness I think both would be professional about dancing together for a brief cameo but they don't necessarily need to in a Group number.

Issfan - yes, I agree she was unhappy about the mistake but I didn't mean that - I was referring to her pointed comment to Gio re his spins. Which looked to be a dig (albeit fair enough!). I think we just have different viewpoints, but I hope that doesn't stop you posting. I'm heading off now anyway!

Ochre - I'd not seen any suggestions that Laura was a bully, I may have missed that though as, as I say, I'm not a regular here . Re the group dance - I'm sure I've seen celebs not necessarily dancing with their original partners. It's no longer always a roll call of the pairings and more likely a big ensemble group dance more like the one in the launch show, so she could eg be dancing with a few pros.

Yes the group dance in last year's Final was like that. If Laura and Gio were to dance a small highlight from one of their dances they could do something like the spotlighted Charleston section from their Quickstep on the stage but equally Laura could dance with a few of the pros or a couple of the ladies eliminated close to her.

From last year I always remember Jamelia out shimmying the pro ladies