24 October 2023 , 15:00
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Amanda Abbington and her professional Strictly partner Giovanni Pernice firmly put rumours of a feud to bed with their stunning performance on Saturday night.
The couple performed an incredible Salsa for judges and fans both in the studio and at home and were so thrilled with how their routine went they shared a passionate kiss when they'd finished dancing. At the end of their routine, viewers weren't quite expecting the Italian dancer to grip Amanda's face before planting a kiss on her lips. They scored an impressive 32 from the judges. Fans of the show immediately flocked to X, formerly Twitter, and praised the dance couple on their chemistry and dubbed their dance 'the best one of the night.'
One viewer said: "Amanda and Giovanni… just wow!!! I absolutely loved that." Another said: "Amanda & Giovanni deserved at least one 9. That was a brilliant Salsa." A third viewer wrote: "Blimey! That was the dance of night for me. So far. Amanda and Giovanni BROUGHT IT tonight."
Giovanni put feud rumours to bed when he planted a huge kiss on Amanda's lips (BBC)Away from the dance floor, Amanda is engaged to Britain's Got Talent daredevil Jonathan Goodwin. The stunt artist, who was left paralysed after daring act went wrong, after feeling "fragile" following the breakdown of her relationship with Jonjo O'Neill. Jonathan and Amanda had a whirlwind romance at the start of the relationship, where they spent hours talking on the phone every day for seven weeks before he flew to Vienna to meet her in person for the first time.
They had been friends on social media for more than 10 years because her son Joe thought his act was 'amazing'. "We kind of had a mutual respect for each other", she said but had initially 'friend zoned' him because he was with his wife. Amanda told Jay Rayner on his Out To Lunch podcast, they later spoke were she said to him "I've not had a great break-up" and he said"'well my divorce has just come through".
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness
Amanda in action with Giovanni on Strictly (PA)Amanda has also gone through a painful divorce from her Sherlock co-star, Martin Freeman back in 2016, and the split left her battling painful negative emotions, with the actress even confession she had struggled with thoughts of suicide. The pair met in 2000 on the set of the film Men Only and later went to star on the screen together numerous times
They starred in The Debt, The Good Night, and The Robinsons and maybe the most iconic duo John and Mary Watson in the BBC drama, Sherlock. The famous couple, who have two children together, a son Joe, and daughter Grace separated in 2016 and Amanda has revealed it was because they could no longer live together. However, they made the difficult decision to keep their split a secret for ssix months.
Amanda spoke to The Sunday Times Magazine about the end of their relationship: “When we broke up nobody knew, we didn't tell anybody except for a few key people because they had to know, because of the logistics of hotels and stuff. It took six months for it to get out and a lot of that was while we were working on Sherlock. We were professional and we were going to get on and make a show and be civil to each other."
The couple were together for 16 years (Getty Images)
The pair remains good friends (Getty Images)She added: "We still get on really well, we still really both admire each other as actors... he's a great guy, but we just couldn't live with each other anymore." On the Full Disclosure podcast, Amanda spoke about the toll the breakup had on her mental health. "It was breaking up with Martin and then realising I needed to sort myself out because I was a bit of a mess. I hated myself," she explained. "That was a genuine option for me, quite a few times in my life. Then I don't have to be this bad person because I don't have to be here anymore."
Thankfully, after Amanda started going to therapy she was able to let go of that feeling and has moved on with her life. She’s now engaged to long-term friend and former daredevil Jonathan Goodwin. The pair crossed paths on Twitter in 2012 and had only spoken online or over the phone until they met for the first time in Vienna when Jonathan proposed right away.
Amanda and Goodwin were only together for two months before he was involved in a tragic accident during America’s Got Talent: Extreme stunt gone wrong which left him paralysed. When they appeared on Loose Women Jonathan admitted he would have understood if Amanda had walked away from their relationship after his life-changing injuries, but she never considered it. She recalled how he said they had "a lot to talk about" but her response was simply: "Unless it's about the wedding, then no, we don't."