Strictly viewers have leapt to support Tasha Ghouri after she suffered an “unfortunate” mishap during her latest dance.
It was Musicals Week on the BBC competition, with the stars competing to make the forthcoming semi-finals. The formerLove Island contestant, who ended up in this week’s dance off, performed an Argentine Tango alongside partner Aljaž Škorjanec to the song “Ex-Wives” from Six.
During the intense dance, Ghouri, who was born deaf, was spun to the side when her cochlear implant came loose.
Ghouri has worn the device since she was five. It assists with hearing by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve.
After the dance had ended, both Gouri and Škorjanec walked over to host Tess Daly as they prepared to hear comments from the judges, with Škorjanec telling Daly: “Her implant came out for a couple of seconds.”
Daly asked her if she “got it back in”, to which Ghouri said she had. Viewers immediately supported Ghour on X/Twitter, with one saying they “gasped” when they saw the implant come loose.
“I can’t imagine what that felt like both in the physical sensation but to knock your focus, but she kept going like it was nothing,” one fan said, with another adding:: “Tasha’s cochlear implant coming out mid performance, her smoothly putting it back in and smashing a performance like that?! She is in a league of her own!”
An additional viewer levelled: “That wasn’t my favourite Argentine Tango of the season there from Tasha and Aljaž but fair play to her for coping with her cochlear falling out,” while another questioned why the judges didn’t take it into account when judging the contestant.
“Tasha‘s implant was displaced mid-routine (which would *cut her access to sound*), & she just pops it on without missing a step! Total pro. But NO ONE even mentioned it??” a fan queried.
Ahead of appearing on Strictly, Ghouri cited previous winner Rose Ayling-Ellis, the show’s first ever deaf contestant, as a personal inspiration.
Ghouri went viral earlier this year after she posted a TikTok “Get Ready With Me” video, in which she communicated without her cochlear implant. She captioned the post “Embracing my deaf accent”, and has since gone on to campaign for it to be normalised.
She has worked with the Department of Education, Number 10 Downing Street and charity MED-AL to raise greater awareness around issues affecting the deaf community.
