Former EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis has expressed her excitement over hosting this year’sParalympic Games.

The Strictly Come Dancing winner, 29, will host Afternoon Live alongside broadcaster Clare Balding from inside the Athletes’ Village with live BSL (British Sign Language) signing.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be presented by broadcaster Ade Adepitan and five-time Paralympic swimming champion and Bafta-winner Ellie Simmonds, along with Balding.

Speaking about the opportunity, she said it was ‘a great opportunity to show people what us disabled people can do.

‘It breaks people’s barriers of understanding what we are capable of. Really, though, we shouldn’t be trying to prove this to people.’

She continued: ‘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.’

Rose was the first deaf actress to be cast on the show and has inspired many fans with disabilities. In 2021, she won Strictly Come Dancing with partner Giovanni Pernice, after wowing audiences with her dance skills.

Their iconic silent dance performance went on to win a Bafta for the ‘Must-See Moment of the Year’ and they eventually went on to win Strictly too.

Still, Rose initially ‘hated’ the idea.

‘I watched this pre-recorded video by external choreographers and immediately didn’t like what they’d come up with,’ she told The Guardian.

‘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”.’

‘It was what hearing people think deaf people experience. Very insular, cut-off, small. It was so sad. And that’s not me.’

Since winning Strictly, Rose has left EastEnders as Frankie Lewis and starred in a West End revival of As You Like It and will next be seen fronting her own documentary, Signs For Change.