Debbie mcgee and giovanni pernice: star admits he was ‘going nowhere'

Paul Daniels’ widow admitted the professional dancer was “going nowhere” as a teenager as she spoke fondly of him during her show on BBC Radio Berkshire this morning. The 59-year-old

revealed how learning to dance changed his life while hinting that a lot of the pros on Strictly Come Dancing had a similar story. Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice, 27, were reunited for a

special night earlier this week, and it was while discussing their evening that she went into his back story. The former magician’s assistant and the Italian hunk developed a close bond

after being patterned with each other for the programme, and have kept firmly in touch since. The TV star has now told listeners: “The story of his life is that he was really quite a

teenager that was only looking at girls and not concentrating on school work.” Debbie continued: “He was going nowhere and then saw some dancing. He got his mum to teach him to dance,

because they couldn’t afford for him to go to a dancing school. “He left home at 14 and came to Europe. First of all to Italy - he was from Sicily…” The small screen regular, went on: “All

of those dancers from Strictly, it has ben really tough to get where they are and they’ve all had very interesting lives. So independent.” Debbie and Giovanni looked happy to be back in each

other’s company when she turned up for the opening night of his tour, Born to Win, in Coventry on Thursday. Georgia May Foote’s ex and his girlfriend Jessica Wright shared a number of snaps

of themselves with the Strictly finalist on Instagram. “The best surprise @thedebbiemcgee,” Giovanni captioned one upload, as the pair beamed arm-in-arm. However, things didn’t got to plan

for Debbie on her journey home, which she also detailed during her latest broadcast. “I was a good girl, I didn’t stay for drinks after the show,” she said. “I got on the road thinking I was

driving back - I’m used to driving long distances at night, I’ve done it for years - but I’m getting so frustrated with whoever deals with our road system. “All these road closures at night

- I’ve come across it so many times - the diversion signs were totally impossible to follow and I’m not an idiot.” Debbie added: “There were three diversions going on, I didn’t have a map

in my car - okay that was stupid - I was using two sat navs, one of which usually knows all the traffic.