Rose Ayling-Ellis left Strictly Come Dancing viewers in tears back in 2021 when she performed a moving Couple's Choice with Giovanni Pernice to Clean Bandit's song Symphony.
The poignant dance routine was swiftly hailed as Strictly's greatest-ever performance. The pair, who won the BBC series that year, paid respect and raised awareness for members of the deaf community when the music cut as they continued to dance in silence.
Despite winning much praise and accolades for the dance, Rose has confessed that she initially disliked the routine. "I hated it," she told The Guardian. "I watched this pre-recorded video by external choreographers and immediately didn't like what they’d come up with.
She feared the dance would score her the "pity" vote, adding: "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'."
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"It was what hearing people think deaf people experience," the actress continued. "Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that's not me."
After reworking the routine, Rose learnt to love the dance as it began to feel "more true" to her. She said: "[It felt] more true to me. It was only at camera rehearsals in the studio, when I was told the crew – who never stop – all dropped what they were doing to watch that I thought: '[Explicit]. This might be a big deal.'"
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At the time, after the couple danced their routine, tears began to flow as judge Motsi Mabuse delivered an emotional speech and Anton du Beke was seen tearing up as well.
As Motsi's voice broke, she said: "In this case, I honestly feel like saying thank you. I think this was such a beautiful moment to include us in your world and for us to actually understand how important and how aware we all could be of each other genuinely everywhere.
"This was so special. Sometimes it's more than just marks and scores and dancing, sometimes it's just a moment." Anton also started welling up as he called the routine "the greatest thing I've seen on the show".