Giovanni Pernice and Kai Widdrington went their separate ways to survive on Celebrity Hunted
'Strictly Come Dancing' pals Giovanni Pernice and Kai Widdrington split up on 'Celebrity Hunted' to give themselves the best chance of escaping capture on Channel 4.
Giovanni Pernice was prepared to ditch his friend Kai Widdrington to win 'Celebrity Hunted'.
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' professional has teamed up with his dancefloor pal in his return to British television on the Channel 4 series and was prepared to go to extreme lengths for victory.
Giovanni, 34, is quoted by The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column as saying: "It's exciting to be back on British TV. It's been too long!
"It was super stressful. Me and Kai are the best of mates, but I'm very competitive and he is not at the same level as me when it comes to competitiveness.
"In fact, you will see we split up. I was thinking, 'I want to win this', but Kai was thinking about where we could stay that was nice.
"He was like, 'Here is cool, it's relaxed, it's warm, let's eat'. And I was like, 'I don't need to eat. I don't want to be warm. I want to escape the Hunters!'"
Giovanni explained that the pair's contrasting approaches almost led to them being caught on the show – which returns to screens on Sunday (05.01.25).
The Italian dancer said: "There were a few times we nearly got caught. So I said to him, 'We have to split because I really need to win this'."
Kai feels that the show will allow fans to see a different side to him and his friend away from the glamour of 'Strictly'.
The 29-year-old dancer said: "When we lived together, we did a couple of bits on social media and people got a little snippet of what we're like.
"But they're going to see what we're really like doing this! We work very well together. We bicker like an old married couple. Hopefully, it's entertaining. But it is genuinely us being ourselves, it's not put on."
