Strictly Come Dancings Amanda Abbington quits show after setbacks

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Amanda Abbington has quit Strictly Come Dancing, Daily Star can exclusively reveal.

Concerns Amanda may quit the series have been swirling since she was forced to leave the show after being unable to perform last weekend citing her health. And now it looks like she's made the decision to leave the competition completely, with our source exclusively telling us she's left the show, adding she's "fed up".

Her absence was addressed at the beginning of Saturday night's show (October 21) as presenter Claudia Winkleman said: “Now as you may have noticed, Amanda and Giovanni are missing from the lineup. Due to medical reasons Amanda is unable to perform this week.”

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Rumours of a rift between her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice have also been making headlines, with the pair strongly denying a fallout during It Takes Two last week.

Host Janette Manrara probed: "It honestly looks like you two are having the best time in rehearsals, getting along like a house on fire in rehearsals right?" Shutting down any rift rumours, Amanda agreed and said: "Yeah we are, we are! We do and we laugh a lot, we have the same sense of humour which is really important. So we'll come out, work hard, and then we just laugh don't we."

Our source added: "The schedule is very gruelling and after a series of setbacks on the show she has simply decided, with regret, that it's the right thing to do."

Fellow presenter Tess Daly acknowledged her absence on the show at the weekend, stating: “As per the rules of the competition she has been given a bye and all being well will return to the ballroom next weekend.” This comes after Amanda took to social media to share a poignant post about mental health just hours before last week’s Strictly live show.

She went to her Instagram stories to repost a quote to her 119,000 followers, but didn’t address the reason for her absence. The post featured an image of the late comedian Robin Williams. It was accompanied by a quote that read: "People don't fake depression… they fake being okay. Remember that. Be kind.”

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Despite Amanda’s absence Giovanni still appeared on Saturday’s show and was all smiles. This couple had been set to perform a Cha Cha Cha to the song Canned Heat by Jamiroquai.

It’s been a tough start to the competition for Amanda, who was struck down with food poisoning just weeks before the show started. Posting on Instagram in late August, Amanda said she was suffering from a "particularly vicious" bout of food poisoning.

Last month she was also left in tears after her first day of rehearsals as she started the gruelling training schedule. In a video shared on Instagram by her fiancé Jonathan Goodwin, Amanda struggled to sit down on the floor to put on her comfy shoes after the first day preparing for Strictly.

When asked how she was feeling, Amanda replied that she was "fragile" and had "welled up upstairs in tears thinking about having to put my dance shoes on again".

A spokesperson for Strictly declined to comment when contacted by Daily Star.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday and Sunday on BBC One from 6.30pm or on catch-up on BBC iPlayer.

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Bbc
Strictly Come Dancing
Amanda Abbington
Giovanni Pernice

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