Rose Ayling-Ellis has admitted she wasn’t originally a fan of her award-winning Strictly Come Dancing routine.
The former EastEnders actor wowed and moved fans of the BBC ballroom show in 2021, when she performed her Couple’s Choice dance with partner Giovanni Pernice, which featured a silent segment to honour the deaf community.
However, in a new interview with the Guardian, the Strictly winner explained that the original choreography had to be reworked as she found it “sad” and not representative of deaf people’s experiences.
“I hated it,” Rose said. “I watched this pre-recorded 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. An attempt to get the pity vote, all sad, dreary and ‘poor me’.”
“It was what hearing people think deaf people experience,” she continued. “Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that’s not me.”
Rose said the routine then felt “totally different” after it was reworked.
She continued: “From there, we created the dance, shaping and changing it throughout the week.
“[It felt] more true to me. It was only at camera rehearsals in the studio, when I was told the crew – who never stop – all dropped what they were doing to watch that I thought: ‘Shit. This might be a big deal’.”
The routine – which Rose and Giovanni also reprised in the Strictly final – later went on to win a TV Bafta Awards for the Must-See Moment Of The Year.
Rose and Giovanni also appeared on US TV to discuss the routine, after it went viral online.