Aljaz Skorjanec announces his return to Strictly Come Dancing in hopes to 'make baby daughter Lyra proud' after Giovanni Pernice's shock exit By Laura Parkin For Mailonline Published: 14:53 EDT, 8 July 2024 | Updated: 16:35 EDT, 8 July 2024 e-mail 29 shares 35 View comments Aljaž Škorjanec announced his return to Strictly Come Dancing on Monday after it was confirmed that Giovanni Pernice would not be rejoining the lineup. The professional dancer, 34, who welcomed a daughter Lyra with his partner Janette Manrara in July last year, said he hoped to make the one-year-old proud following his two year hiatus from the BBC show. Giovanni, 33, left the programme last month amid a scandal after he was accused of exhibiting 'threatening and abusive' behaviour towards his celebrity dance partners.
During an appearance on The One Show this week, Aljaž confirmed he will be tearing up the dancefloor once more for the brand-new series this autumn. The fan favourite will be waltzing back onto screens for the 20th year of the dancing competition. Aljaž Škorjanec announced his return to Strictly Come Dancing on Monday after it was confirmed that Giovanni Pernice would not be rejoining the lineup Speaking on the show, he said: 'What haven't I missed.
I got to look after my beautiful wife, my beautiful baby for two years. But I missed everything about Strictly. 'I could not be more ecstatic to be back with the Strictly family! This year is such a special one for this legendary show, I.