Rose Ayling-Ellis, winner of last year's Strictly Come Dancing, has spoken out against an article which draws comparisons between her and Ellie Simmonds, who is competing on the show this year.
She said in a series of posts on her Instagram Story: “Please don’t compare me to Ellie. We both have completely different life experiences that it’s just not comparable.”
This comes after an article was published which complained that TV shows like Strictly were “pushing indigestible quantities of diversity down viewers’ throats”.
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She continued by saying: “Just be open to listen and learn. No disabled people are the same.
“I, myself am learning lots from Ellie, who is amazing, btw!”
Rose then shared another article, published by The Guardian titled “Ellie Simmonds on Strictly smashes prejudices about what a dancer can be”, and wrote, “This is better!” along with a heart eyes emoji.
She later shared John Whaite’s posts from his story in which he also spoke about the article.
Whaite was part of the first same-sex couple on Strictly last year, partnered with Johannes Radebe.
He said: “In using the comparison between Rose and Ellie, what I am reading is, if a disability or an impairment isn’t visible and it’s not awkward, and it doesn’t break the mould of what’s been before, then it’s digestible.
But as soon as it becomes a little bit different to watch, then [the writer] doesn’t want to see it, basically. Which I say is bigotry, it’s disgusting, it isn’t necessary to say those things.”
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He also discussed the negativity towards the idea of same-sex couples on the BBC show saying: “It’s an article that directly compares, on BBC’s Strictly, my partnership with Johannes with that of Richie [Anderson] and Giovanni [Pernice].
“Please don’t use my partnership with Johannes as a way to undermine or erode the beauty of Richie and Giovanni’s partnership.”
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