The 27-year-old Sicilian nearly entered into a heated spat with Craig, 52, following the sudden declaration that his choreography had broken the rules yet again on the BBC competition.
When presenter Zoe Ball addressed the issue, Giovanni stuck to his guns about the “unfair” treatment he and contestant Debbie McGee, 59, had received in the semi-final.
Explaining why he was so surprised that the judge picked up on him being “out of hold”, Giovanni confessed: “Well the thing is with Craig, I don’t know if he understands this, but in the same night somebody else broke the same rules as us but he keeps [saying it’s] us all the time.”
He continued: “[He keeps] saying about the 10 second rule, which exists, but if it exists it has to exist for everybody not just for us – Giovanni and Debbie, it has to be fair.
“So I was a little bit upset about this, but it’s Craig.”
While the dancer remained firm about his opinion on the subject, Zoe, 47, tried to laugh off the tense atmosphere.
“You know everyone will be looking and saying ‘Who is it?'” she joked, as the former magician’s assistant took it upon herself to weigh in.
“He was only a little bit upset,” she insisted.
Today’s instalment also saw Zoe bring up the “elephant in the room” once again about recently evicted Mollie King’s reported romance with partner AJ Pritchard.
While The Saturdays’ singer struggled with how to react to the surprising question about whether she’d fallen in love, Zoe decided to let her off the hook by assuring she wasn’t actually referring to the couple, but the show instead.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.45pm on BBC One, and It Takes Two continues weekdays on BBC 2.