It's A Kind Of MAJ-IC: Giovanni On His Royal Dream

I’d love to dance with the Queen .. so I can finally win Strictly title Italian stallion says monarch would be his only chance of glory and insists he is up for becoming one half of the first male same-sex partnership

- Rick Fulton

Italian smoothie Giovanni Pernice wants the Queen to be his Strictly Come Dancing partner this year – so he can win.

The 30-year-old from Sicily has come runner-up three times with Georgia May Foote, Debbie McGee and Faye Tozer.

And while it’s usually Anton Du Beke who is partnered with the more mature would-bes, Giovanni is hoping the 95-year-old monarch might be his chance of finally winning the glitterball trophy for the first time since he joined the show in 2015.

He said: “I would love to dance with her. And I think she’s so popular that this is the only way I can win the show finally.”

The Italian stallion, who split last year with Ashley Roberts after meeting her on Strictly when she was partnered in 2018 with Pasha Kovalev, is more hopeful of being the first male professional to be in a same-sex partnership.

Former boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones made history last year when they were paired up as the show’s first same-sex couple – but had to quit when the pro-dancer tested positive for Covid.

Now, Giovanni wants to be part of the first male pairing.

But with an unlikely partner.

He said: “I want to be the first same-sex male couple with Piers Morgan. I want to dance with him. Obviously, he’s got some time off at the moment (after he quit Good Morning Britain) so, who knows?

“I’m a massive Piers Morgan fan, he’s had a fantastic career and the way he interviews people is out of this world. I think I would learn as much from him as he would from me. I don’t know if he can dance, though.

“As a professional, I welcome the technical challenge of dancing with a male partner.