STRICTLY Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis has confessed to initially hating one of the most landmark moments of her time on the show.
The EastEnders star left viewers in tears back in 2021 when she and pro partner Giovanni Pernice performed part of their contemporary dance routine in complete silence.
Dancing to Clean Bandit track Symphony, the pair honoured the deaf community with the 30-second segment in their routine which completely cut the music.
The dance proved so impactful and moving it was celebrated the next year at the Baftas, winning them the audience-voted ‘moment of the year’.
But nearly three years on, Rose has now admitted she was dead against the idea when she was first approached with it, believing it would appear like a cheap grab for sympathy.
Speaking to The Guardian, the actress said: “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.”
“It was what hearing people think deaf people experience,” she added. “Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that’s not me.”
Instead, she fought for the routine to become something more “energetic, vibrant, and full of life”, with the result being Symphony.
According to Rose, she realised with the amount of effort going into the routine by people on the show that it would be considered a “big deal”.
It’s now largely perceived as one of the most defining performances of the show’s entire 20-year history.
Taking home the glitterball at the end of the series, Rose’s impact has continued to raise awareness for the deaf community.
As well as appearing on documentaries, Rose has become an advocate for better education of British Sign Language (BSL).
She also inspired her pro partner Giovanni to incorporate sign language interpreters into his live shows away from Strictly when he toured across the country.
Giovanni left the show this year after nine years following an official complaint made against him by his 2023 partner, Amanda Abbington.
Amanda accused the dancer of ‘bullying’ behaviour that became ‘disastrously unworkable’ in the five weeks she trained with him before quitting the show.
The BBC have since launched a probe about his training room conduct, though Rose has never spoken out publicly about the allegations against him.
Ahead of the results of the investigation are revealed, Giovanni announced this weekend he will now be joining the Italian version of the series instead as he moves on from the claims.
Throughout its 20-year history, Strictly Come Dancing has welcomed several stars from BBC soap EastEnders. Here's a look at how some of them did over the years.
