, Giovanni signed it as his name and dance partner Amanda Abbington's name were called out as they were safe to dance again next week. The pair danced up a storm with their fiery Salsa to Oye by Gloria Estefan., which saw them earn scores of eight from each of the four judges. Combining their scores saw a total of 32, giving them an impressive position on the Strictly leaderboard. The dance went down well with viewers at home, with votes flooding in to see the Strictly pair safe to dance on week three next week. As their names were called, the ecstatic pair said thank you with Giovanni making the sign language gesture too. The sign, which Giovanni performed for the camera, involves tipping the fingers of one hand from the chin downwards. The touching tribute did not go unnoticed by Strictly viewers as they took to social media to praise his sign language gesture. One Strictly fan commented: "Gio still signing 'thank you' shows a marvellous character and continued){kind=link}
Strictly Come Dancing professional Giovanni Pernice has continued to uphold a gesture of using British Sign Language to say ‘thank you’ for those who have voted for him and his partner
Strictly Come Dancing viewers have spotted a sweet tribute by professional dancer Giovanni Pernice to his former dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis.
Giovanni and Rose won the show in 2021 and were applauded for their beautiful dances and for Rose’s performances whilst not letting her deafness hold her back. Rose used her platform in 2021 to raise awareness for the deaf community, performing a part of one dance in silence to show her experiences and asking for sign interpreters to be standard for TV programmes.
Ever since being partnered together, the pair used to use the British Sign Language symbol for ‘Thank you’ every time they were voted through by the public. Two years on and eagle-eyed viewers have spotted that Giovanni still makes the ‘thank you’ gesture that he learned whilst partnering Rose.
On tonight’s show (1 October), Giovanni signed it as his name and dance partner Amanda Abbington’s name were called out as they were safe to dance again next week.