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Rose Ayling-Ellis is set to become the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on TV.
The EastEnders actor, 29, will present Channel 4’s Paralympic Games Afternoon Live programme at the Athletes’ Village in Paris with live British Sign Language (BSL), alongside Clare Balding.
Ayling-Ellis, who was both the first deaf person to compete on Strictly Come Dancing and to present CBeebies Bedtime Stories in sign language, said the history-making role was another opportunity to show the world “what us disabled people can do”.
The actor said: “It is really exciting that I am the first deaf person to host a live sports TV show. People seem to think that hosting a show is also to do with hearing, but now I’m here to prove that doesn’t have to be."
The former soap actor said that she had undergone “lots of training” for her role.
“I didn’t realise how hard it is,” she said. “I did panic a bit and think, what have I signed up for? But I really love it. I’m really enjoying it. I’m so excited to be doing it.”
Ayling-Ellis continued: “My career so far has been quite mad, and this is another job for me to challenge myself really. It is such a big challenge. No one deaf has ever done this before. I think I’m addicted to being the first of doing something, and that is what I want to do.”
The former Strictly Come Dancing winner said that when she speaks with Paralympians, she doesn’t want it “to become an inspirational story so everyone else feels better about their lives”.
She explained: “It’s for everyone to learn from and understand more about disability and that this is all just normal."
Channel 4’s Paralympics hosting lineup will also include BBC Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope, comedian Josh Pugh, former racing driver Billy Monger, and former rugby union player Ed Jackson.
For the opening and closing ceremonies, Balding will be joined by former wheelchair basketball player and presenter Ade Adepitan and Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds.
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The Paralympic Games will be held in Paris from 28 August to 8 September, with over 11 days of competition.
Ayling-Ellis won the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing with her professional partner Giovanni Pernice, who has since left the show over allegations of behind-the-scenes bullying.
The pair scored legions of new fans after a routine in which the music paused and she and Pernice danced in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.
The EastEnders actor has since revealed she initially “hated” the idea.
“I watched this pre-recorded video by external choreographers and immediately didn’t like what they’d come up with,” she told The Guardian.
“I was up for the idea, as long as it wasn’t a patronising stunt. An attempt to get the pity vote, all sad, dreary and ‘poor me’.
‘“It was what hearing people think deaf people experience. Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that’s not me.”
