Entertainment
Strictly Come Dancing: Rose Ayling-Ellis wants ‘more people like’ Giovanni Pernice: ‘The world would be great’
Rose and Giovanni have a lot of respect for each other (Picture: PA)
Rose Ayling-Ellis has heaped praise on her dance partner Giovanni Pernice and says there should be ‘more people like [him]’ in the world.
The Strictly Come Dancing star is hotly-tipped to reach the final with her professional dance partner after smashing their performances each week.
During yesterday’s live show, the pair topped the leaderboard with a score of 39 after dancing the American Smooth to the Natalie King song This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), impressing judges with a ‘never before seen’ dive lift.
It’s been even more of an important journey for Rose, 27, who is representing the Deaf community and has leant on Giovanni, 31, and his patience.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Rose said: ‘I am so very grateful to him, because he adapts to me a lot. If there were more people like Giovanni, the world would be great.’
The EastEnders actress added: ‘I’ve always been very happy to be deaf, I’ve always been proud of it because that’s made me who I am
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‘I wanted to stand up for the deaf community. That was my number one purpose.’
Rose also admitted she felt ‘completely on [her] own’ at the beginning but grew confidence while Giovanni learnt to adapt his teaching skills to suit her needs.
Following yesterday’s performance, judges Motsi Mabuse and Shirley were on their feet, with a tearful Motsi telling Rose: ‘I honestly feel like saying thank you, because this was such a beautiful moment to include us in your world, and for us to actually understand how important and how aware we all could be of each other generally everywhere, and this was so special.’
More: Strictly Come Dancing
She continued: ‘Sometimes it’s more than scores and marks and dances, sometimes it’s just a moment, and we just had that. Thank you so much.’
Strictly Come Dancing returns Sunday at 7:20pm on BBC One.
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