Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis has spoken out over her BBC journey alongside Giovanni Pernice and has admitted she ‘hated’ one part of the experience
Rose Ayling-Ellis, the BBC EastEnders actress and 2021 Strictly Come Dancing winner, has revealed her initial distaste for a dance routine that ultimately became one of the most memorable moments on the show.
Performing with Giovanni Pernice, Rose made headlines with their groundbreaking moment of dancing in silence.
However, speaking to the Guardian in January, Rose admitted she initially hated the concept, fearing it was designed for a “pity” vote. She confessed: “I hated it.
I watched this prerecorded video by external choreographers and immediately didn’t like what they’d come up with.”
“I was up for the idea, as long as it wasn’t a patronising stunt,” she said. Annoyed at the idea that could seem contrived for sympathy, Rose further elaborated: “An attempt to get the pity vote, all sad, dreary and ‘poor me’,” adding: “It was what hearing people think deaf people experience.
Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that’s not me.”
Assertively taking control over her narrative, the routine was binned and with the help of other Strictly pros both Rose and Giovanni reworked the dance. Thankfully, the show’s response exceeded her expectations. “They went further than I’d asked,” she acknowledges gratefully, which led to her participation.
Recalling a touching act on her first day, she recalls how everyone communicated with her. “So I said yes. On my first day, everyone finger spelt their name to me. It was a special gesture.”, reports Birmingham Live. In support of Rose’s bold statements and character, Claudia Winkleman remarked: “I need to make such a bold statement because I know her well enough to know she never would.
“And to be clear, Rose isn’t astonishing because she won a dance contest while not hearing the music. She’s utterly brilliant because she’s genuinely hilarious, because she’s ridiculously humble, and because she’s bonkers talented.” Rose stated: “I’ve had so many opportunities because of all this. And I’m in this position where people are listening to me. It comes with a sense of responsibility: I don’t want to make a mistake, or let the deaf community down. It feels a lot is on my shoulders.”
Rose recently starred on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are as she reflected on a “really difficult” experience. The TV star was tracing her family history on the popular programme, and discovered that her great great great grandmother, named Agnes, was a pub landlady in the early 20th century.
Agnes, who was married twice, faced discrimination being a woman serving alcohol at a time of moral panic around drinking. Rose became emotional as she discovered that one of the bedrooms in the pub-turned-hotel is named after her grandmother.
She admitted: “I just feel really privileged to learn so much about this woman. So, to Agnes… I just want to say cheers, and thank you. I don’t know why I’m getting emotional about that!
“Because I feel like it must have been really difficult to cope with two deaths of her husbands. But she’s resilient. It’s not about her husbands. It’s about herself, and it’s about who she is and what she wants to do and she’s just doing it. And I like that. I have nothing but massive respect for her.”
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Source: USA Today
