SARAH VINE: Amanda was NOT a victim in the way most people understand it

Before this whole Strictly debacle, I must confess I had no clue who Amanda Abbington was.

Now, thanks to a £250,000 BBC inquiry, a tearful Channel 4 interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and a slew of other media appearances, I know exactly who she is – as does the rest of the country. She’s gone from being a moderately successful TV actress to a household name.

You might say – her supporters certainly would – that’s it’s the least she deserves after all she has suffered. On Monday, after six long months, Auntie’s long-awaited report into Abbington’s claims of ‘verbal bullying’ and ‘­harassment’ at the hands of pro dancer ­Giovanni Pernice was finally released.

While 11 out of 17 complaints were not upheld, six were, including ‘swearing and using what could be described as belittling language’ against the actress and ‘getting too frustrated’ with her during rehearsals.

Sarah’s problem with Abbington is not that she decided to pull Pernice up on his behaviour – but that she cast herself as such a helpless victim

In particular – cover your ears – Pernice told her: ‘You have talent and you’re not using it.’ Cripes. I can only begin to imagine what she’s been through.

Eagle-eyed readers might detect a slight note of sarcasm – and they would be right. Yes, Amanda seems to have suffered somewhat at the hands of the demanding dancer. But it’s become a feature of modern life that those who can, get on with it – and those who can’t cry victim.

I’m not saying Pernice is an angel. Or even a particularly nice guy. He is, after all, a professional in the cut-throat world of ballroom dancing.

You don’t get to the top there by being a pussycat.

He’s also Italian. And as someone who grew up in Italy, I can hand on heart say that, engaging as they can be, as a species the Latin male is not the most progressive. Most of them haven’t come to terms with living in the 20th century, let alone the 21st.

I have no doubt that Abbington is right when she says Pernice was at times critical and impatient, and offensive in his choice of language. People forget that Strictly is a contest, and part of that is pushing participants beyond their comfort zones to get the most out of them. It’s not simply an opportunity to get your hair and make-up done and swan around in sequins on prime-time TV. Strictly is supposed to be hard and demanding, the training gruelling, the competition fierce. For the professional dancers, the stakes are high. Damn right they push their partners to the limit.

No, my problem with Abbington is not that she decided to pull Pernice up on his behaviour – but that she cast herself as such a helpless victim.

While I have no doubt that what she went through was traumatic, like it or not there is a hierarchy of ­victimhood. Some kinds of bullying are just objectively worse than others.

And I’m sorry, but the complaints against Pernice that have been upheld just don’t sound that awful to me. Yes, she had a rotten time – but was it really much more than that? Was it really anything more than two egos in a high-pressure situation who just didn’t see eye to eye?

You might say, why does any of this matter? Well, it does. Because women like Abbington are part of the reason other women who find themselves in genuinely awful and much more serious situations don’t get taken seriously. Women who can’t afford fancy lawyers and who don’t get the opportunity to air their grievances with the likes of Guru-Murthy.

There are plenty of instances where vulnerable women find themselves at the mercy of truly cruel and horrible men. The latest revelations regarding Mohamed Al-Fayed are a case in point. This revolting man abused his wealth and power to molest his female staff and then bullied and threatened them into silence.

For the professional dancers, the stakes are high. Damn right they push their partners like Abbington to the limit, writes Sarah Vine

But this is not one of those situations. Abbington does not seem to have been in any physical danger from Pernice at any point.

He never, for example, rubbed himself against her, or cornered her in his dressing gown, as happened to Fayed’s victims. Pernice was in fact cleared of using any kind of physically abusive behaviour. Using ‘belittling’ language may not be ideal – but it hardly makes him a monster. Abbington was clearly a difficult person who – as she acknowledged – could be tricky and somewhat volatile.

Indeed, in a recording of an emotionally charged conversation between the two, she admitted that she ‘self-sabotages’, repeatedly mentioning how he has been a support to her and describing herself as a ‘nightmare’. She also says that if she were him, she ‘would have thrown me out of the window by now’. Meanwhile, the man has lost his job and the show – which is not especially my cup of tea, but is loved by millions – has been cast under a dark cloud, with all those who work for it unnecessarily upset and worried.

I’m sorry for Abbington that her time on Strictly turned out to be such an ordeal. But was she a true ‘victim’ in the way most people would understand it?

Was it worth £250,000 of taxpayers’ money? Would she now be a household name were it not for it all? No, no – and most definitely no.