Fans of Strictly Come Dancing have taken to social media to praise the show for featuring its very first deaf contestant, Rose Ayling-Ellis. A few weeks ago, the show premiered the long-awaited season 19 and revealed all 15 celebrities and their dancing partners. Like last year, there are still some restrictions in place for the contestants to ensure that the show can continue on during the aftermath of COVID-19. This essentially means that all the celebrities were assigned their partners before the show even premiered.
In the opening group number to Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love," the Strictly professionals gave fans insight into just what they can look forward to in the upcoming season, as well as reintroducing well-known presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, and judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Shirley Ballas. The new Strictly Come Dancing season also welcomed a brand new judge, a former professional dancer on the show, Anton Du Beke, replacing Dancing With The Stars judge Bruno Tonioli. While all of this is exciting for fans of the show, seeing new contestant Rose perform on the stage is something everyone is looking forward to.
Rose, Strictly Come Dancing's very first deaf contestant, has already won over the British public, with many fans of the show taking to social media to praise her. Twitter user @TweetingCosplay stated, "Watching #StrictlyComeDancing. Rose Ayling-Ellis is very much succeeding at being the most amazing person on the planet! Everyone else is alright too I suppose." @ellajaytomlin showed her praise, saying, "Seeing everyone sign is making me so happy i’m actually tearing up! You’ve got this Gi and Rose 💕🥺🥳 #Strictly."
Rose stated that she wanted to use the show to demonstrate that the deaf community can still listen and dance to music despite their hearing impairment. Tess also explained to the audience that Rose will always have an interpreter present so that she can understand the judges' feedback, as well as the dancing instructions given to the contestants on the show. While the fellow competitors, professionals, and audience applauded Rose for her inspiring words, professional dancer Gorka Marquez went one step further to show his support by gesturing his arms with the applause sign in sign language, which was great for fans to see.
It is wonderful to see that the show Strictly Come Dancing is making an effort to provide representation across the show. As stated before, this season features Rose, who is making history as the first deaf contestant, and this season also features its very first joint male pair, John Whaite and Johannes Radebe. It will be interesting for fans to watch this new season unfold and see how all of these contestants do in the competition.
Sources: @TweetingCosplay/Twitter, @ellajaytomlin/Twitter