Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis has opened up about her time on the BBC show, sharing the honest truth about why she decided to sign up, despite knowing it would be tough
Rose Ayling-Ellis has candidly revealed the real reason behind her decision to join Strictly Come Dancing, describing the experience as "mental" and demanding, alongside dance partner Giovanni Pernice.
During an episode of the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, the Strictly champion opened up about the challenges she's encountered on her journey to stardom, having recently secured the leading role in ITV's 'Code of Silence'.
Rose, who made history as the first deaf contestant to win the Glitterball Trophy, has featured in a range of programmes from EastEnders to The One Show.
However, she confessed that her stint on the dance floor was intense. In the course of their chat, host Josh queried if she ever felt "fed up" with constantly having to prove herself.
Rose admitted that she did and continues to feel this way, emphasising how her recent role was her first action part.
She detailed that when she initially joined EastEnders, she was only given a two-week contract, but due to her determination to prove her worth, she later managed to secure an extension for six months.
Rose recounted some of the challenging situations she faced at the start of her career. One instance was when she was working on a play in a theatre and was assigned "just one job" despite wanting to do more. She also mentioned that she wasn't trained on the tills during a past supermarket job.
She revealed: "It's always other people making decisions on me. And the thing is, no one's being malicious, no one's being horrible, no one's being mean or anything. It's more like they think they're being helpful by giving me less and not giving me something that's too much for me.
"I'm like, 'No, I want to'. That's why I really, like, wanted to do Strictly, which is a lot, and it's mental, and it demands, but I felt like, if I can do that, then the people will realise, 'Oh, she can do a lot more'."
Further reflecting on her Strictly stint with Russell Howard on his Five Brilliant Things podcast, Rose called her time on the show a "blur".
Before reaching the final of Strictly with Giovanni, they delivered their Couple's Choice dance, which poignantly included 20 seconds of silence as a tribute to the deaf community.
Following their powerful performance, they were honoured with the Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the BAFTA TV Awards 2022, marking just one of many groundbreaking television achievements for Rose. She also made history as Channel 4's first deaf live sports presenter during the Paralympics.
In conversation with RadioTimes.com, she conveyed appreciation for the chance to be a representative of the deaf community on television, remarking: "EastEnders needs to have good credit for [deaf representation], because they actually hired me onto the show to become a regular, full-time. Not many other programmes have done that, so thank you so much to EastEnders for that."
