Entertainment
Strictly Come Dancing’s Rose Ayling-Ellis backs NHS by turning down ‘vast money to promote hearings aids’
Rose Ayling-Ellis is turning down huge money to back the NHS (Picture: BBC)
Strictly Come Dancing’s first ever Deaf contestant Rose Ayling-Ellis has reportedly turned down ‘vast money’ to promote hearing aids, in a bid to stay loyal to the NHS.
The 27-year-old, who has already been praised for representing the Deaf community on the BBC show, is refusing to promote any devices not supplied by the NHS, in order to avoid misleading her fans.
‘Rose has already done so much to raise awareness of the plight deaf people face on a daily basis. She is a total inspiration,’ began an insider, claiming she’s rejected deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds from high street brands that sell hearings aids such as Specsavers.
‘Several firms have been in touch to see if she wanted any freebies, or wanted to get on board for campaigns,’ the source told The Sun.
‘Although it means turning down vast sums of money, Rose doesn’t feel right accepting.
‘She gets her hearing aids from the NHS and doesn’t want to mislead her fans.’
Rose has received huge praise for raising awareness for the Deaf community (Picture: PA)
They continued: ‘She is a passionate champion of our health service.
‘Her pals have been joking that Rose should have gone to Specsavers but she’s adamant not profiting from her condition is the right thing to do.’
Last month, Rose and her Strictly partner Giovanni Pernice moved viewers to tears when, for the first time on the show, they danced to no music, hoping to raise awareness of deafness.
She’s also incorporated sign language into her routines, and changed how BBC iPlayer streams Strictly to allow Deaf viewers to watch too.
Hearing loss charity Signal told Metro.co.uk: ‘Everyone’s very excited with Rose, it’s the best thing on TV, it shows that there’s no barriers there.
‘You also see the interpreter that she’s got on set and just how people are trying to make sure it’s inclusive – that anyone can do it – which is brilliant.
‘Deaf people, we’ve simply got ears that don’t work, that’s it. We’re not different in any other way it’s just how we communicate.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted a spokesperson for Specsavers and Rose Ayling-Ellis on this story.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tomorrow night at 6.40pm on BBC One.
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