Two more thoughts:
The 'why didn't they complain at the time?' arguments are stupid. Laura did complain at the time. And if we assume the third complainant is Ranvir, there are lots of obvious reasons why. 1 - it was the Covid year, so she wouldn't have seen as much of how other pros and celebs interacted to immediately identify that he was treating her unusually harshly. 2 - She seems a fairly reserved, soft-spoken person, and she's a journalist. Not surprising that she'd take some time to reflect before jumping into a formal complaint. 3 - How do we know she didn't say something to producers at the time and got ignored just like Amanda? 4 - No one wants to quit a show they've been contracted to do, nor publically make serious allegations while still under contract. Most people would grit their teeth and power through. 5 - She did make comments that his teaching style was too harsh for her and was destroying her confidence.
Dancers are tough cookies. I took B&L lessons for a few years as a child (alas, I sucked) and the most reiterated lesson about ballroom posture was 'if it doesn't hurt, you're doing it wrong'. My teacher didn't miss a single week of class even when she was pregnant. She taught a class 2 days before giving birth, and 5 days after. It's understandable that pros would have some trouble adjusting to the level of a non-athletic person while trying to pull a whole performance together in a week. But all the others manage to make the adjustment sooner or later. The fact that he hasn't learnt to dial it down in 9 years is a testament to his character. There've been other pros, particularly in the earlier series who've had complaints of being too harsh, but all of them managed to move forward from them. I think he's worse than Maks tbh, and that takes some doing. I'm pretty sure even he admits he mishandled some of his earlier partnerships because he was trying to teach them the way he was taught. Gio doubling down that he's not going to change his teaching style for anyone is not a good look.
The 'why didn't they complain at the time?' arguments are stupid. Laura did complain at the time. And if we assume the third complainant is Ranvir, there are lots of obvious reasons why. 1 - it was the Covid year, so she wouldn't have seen as much of how other pros and celebs interacted to immediately identify that he was treating her unusually harshly. 2 - She seems a fairly reserved, soft-spoken person, and she's a journalist. Not surprising that she'd take some time to reflect before jumping into a formal complaint. 3 - How do we know she didn't say something to producers at the time and got ignored just like Amanda? 4 - No one wants to quit a show they've been contracted to do, nor publically make serious allegations while still under contract. Most people would grit their teeth and power through. 5 - She did make comments that his teaching style was too harsh for her and was destroying her confidence.
Dancers are tough cookies. I took B&L lessons for a few years as a child (alas, I sucked) and the most reiterated lesson about ballroom posture was 'if it doesn't hurt, you're doing it wrong'. My teacher didn't miss a single week of class even when she was pregnant. She taught a class 2 days before giving birth, and 5 days after. It's understandable that pros would have some trouble adjusting to the level of a non-athletic person while trying to pull a whole performance together in a week. But all the others manage to make the adjustment sooner or later. The fact that he hasn't learnt to dial it down in 9 years is a testament to his character. There've been other pros, particularly in the earlier series who've had complaints of being too harsh, but all of them managed to move forward from them. I think he's worse than Maks tbh, and that takes some doing. I'm pretty sure even he admits he mishandled some of his earlier partnerships because he was trying to teach them the way he was taught. Gio doubling down that he's not going to change his teaching style for anyone is not a good look.
