Actress and former Strictly winner Rose Ayling-Ellis says it’s “really exciting” to become the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on TV.
The EastEnders star will be one of Channel 4’s hosts of the Paralympic Games, which begin in Paris next week.
Ayling-Ellis will host a daily show, Afternoon Live, alongside Clare Balding from the Athletes’ Village, with live British Sign Language (BSL) signing.
The actress said the Paralympics was “a great opportunity to show people what us disabled people can do”.
For the opening and closing ceremonies, Balding will be joined by broadcaster and former wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan and Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds.
Channel 4’s presenting line-up will also feature former rugby union player Ed Jackson, racing driver-turned-pundit Billy Monger, BBC Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope, and comedian Josh Pugh.
In a statement, Ayling-Ellis said the Paralympics “breaks people’s barriers of understanding what we are capable of”.
“Really, though,” she added, “we shouldn’t be trying to prove this to people.”
“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 29-year-old said she has had “lots of training” before taking on her first hosting job.
“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 joined EastEnders in 2020, and became the first deaf contestant to compete on Strictly Come Dancing the following year. She left EastEnders in 2022.
She was also the first person to deliver a CBeebies bedtime story in sign language.
“My career so far has been quite mad, and this is another job for me to challenge myself really,” she continued.
“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.”
Ayling-Ellis said that, when she talks to the Paralympians, she does not “want it to become an inspirational story so everyone else feels better about their lives”.
“It’s for everyone to learn from and understand more about disability and that this is all just normal.”
Ayling-Ellis was also the first deaf person to deliver the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, and helped launch the first deaf Barbie.
Last year, she made her West End debut in the Shakespearean romantic comedy As You Like It, being nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance.
Balding, who has presented Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, called the Paralympics the “peak of the summer of sport”.
She noted that a lot of live presenting is reliant on talkback, the system that allows directors and editors to communicate with on-screen presenters through an earpiece.
“So we’re finding different ways of doing things like that and it’s so important to take on that challenge and take new steps,” Balding said.
“When Paralympic athletes like Jonnie Peacock, Ellie Simmonds, Jodie Cundy or Lauren Steadman have appeared on Strictly, the first question has been ‘Well, how?’ And now, with Rose, [to] work on a live programme, you might say, ‘How is a deaf presenter going to?’
“We’re going to show you. We’re not going to tell you how, we’re going to show you.”
Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will begin with the opening ceremony on 28 August, with the closing ceremony on 8 September.
