Strictly Contestant: Ellie Simmonds

By The Recs SCD 2 years ago

Strictly Come Dancing has added Paralympian Ellie Simmonds to its 2022 celeb line-up

Ellie Simmonds isn’t Strictly’s first Paralympian. Jonny Peacock had that honour and look how well he did, reaching Week 9 of his year. Can Ellie go even further? 

Ellie Simmonds

© BBC

Known As:

A multi Gold-medal winning Paralympian swimmer.

Ellie was awarded with an MBE at 14 (becoming the youngest person ever to receive that honour) – four years later it was ‘upgraded’ to an OBE.

In 2016, she made the documentaries, Ellie Simmonds: Swimming with Dolphins and Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism?

Previous Dance Experience?

In a chat with David Walliams in 2014, Ellie revealed she likes dancing and does Zumba to keep fit.
 
We’ve not been able to find extensive videos of Ellie dancing but we can glimpse some of her moves in this clip (alongside some Strictly alumni such as Nicola Adams and Louis Smith)
Play Video

The Recs Rating: 💃 💃 💃 💃

One of Strictly’s most admirable achievements is to prove that disability is no barrier to enjoying dance. Ellie has achondroplasia and has described herself as “the first dwarf” to do the BBC dance show.  The American equivalent show Dancing With The Stars saw TV personality Terra Jolé, who has dwarfism, finish in fifth place. 

Ellie is a hugely popular sportswoman so it’s easy to imagine the gold medal winner getting a lot of public support.Â