Actress Amanda Abbington vows to never take part in reality TV again after getting death and rape threats

Actress Amanda Abbington has said she will never take part in another reality TV series, months after she quit ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

The ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Safe’ actress shocked fans in October when she suddenly pulled out of the hit BBC dancing show, citing “personal reasons”. In the months that followed speculation was rife about an apparent feud between Abbington and her professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.

In January, Abbington claimed she had been left suffering from Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) after her time on the show. The actress and mum-of-one, who was formerly married to fellow actor Martin Freeman, was said to struggle with Pernice's strict and intense approach to dance training.

Neither Abbington nor Pernice have commented publicly about the supposed feud between them, but at the time the feud rumours started, while they were still performing on ‘Strictly’ together they each appeared to try to shut them down by posting about each other on their respective Instagram pages.

Since then, Abbington has revealed that she received both death threats and rape threats following her decision to leave the show.

In an exclusive interview with ’OK! Magazine’, she was asked if she’d ever take part in a reality TV show again and she replied with a firm “no”. She said: "No, never again. Please be kind to me. I've had death threats and rape threats because I left Strictly."

Abbington’s comments come as Pernice said he thought she could have gone on to win the show. Speaking on the ‘Invite Only’ podcast to friend and ‘Strictly’ judge Anton Du Beke he said “It’s a shame (that Abbington quit the show) because, in my opinion, she could have gone all the way. I am a perfectionist, 100%, but it comes from a perspective of caring. I think all of the professional dancers are in the same place.”

He continued: “If we have good scores at the end, I do look back and say, ‘i've done a great job’. But we all care about our partners and we want that for them every single week – to look great on a Saturday. There's no specific way that you are, or have to be with your celebrity. You make the most of their strengths so the only thing that’s constant is the fact that you have to do a show on Saturday night."

Du Beke replied: "I thought you and Amanda were marvellous. I thought you were terrific. And you're a bit overwhelmed by it because normally, it takes a little bit of time. I thought Amanda . . . was terrific straight away."

In her OK! interview, when Abbington was told by the interviewer that fans also felt she could have lifted the glitterball trophy, she responded: “Well, that was always what I wanted to do, but my mental and physical health was far more important. My friends have helped me through it. It’s been a rough few months.”