Rose Ayling-Ellis is our 12th celebrity to take to the ballroom in 2021!

Thursday 12 August 2021, 19:30

Actor Rose Ayling-Ellis is best known for her role in EastEnders playing Frankie Lewis.

Rose said: “To be the first deaf contestant on Strictly Come Dancing is sooooo exciting.. and a little bit scary. It is the hardest secret I have ever had to keep so it feels amazing to finally have this out in the open! I hope I will do the deaf community proud and break down more barriers. But I am also very excited to learn an incredible new skill and even better I get to learn whilst wearing beautiful dresses made especially for me!”

Actor Rose Ayling-Ellis is best known for her role in EastEnders, which she joined in 2020, playing Frankie Lewis. Rose is the first ever deaf actor to play a deaf character on the soap. She has previously appeared in various stage productions, and her other TV credits include Summer of Rockets and Casualty. Rose use British Sign Language (BSL).

Rose joins Tom Fletcher,Robert Webb, AJ Odudu, John Whaite, Rhys Stephenson, Sara Davies, Katie McGlynn, Dan Walker,Tilly Ramsay, Greg Wise and Nina Wadia in our line-up.