Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds has been announced as a contestant for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, and is set to make Strictly history as the first person with Dwarfism to compete in the competition.
Ellie who was born with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism, and is 4ft, will be no stranger to making history after becoming Britain’s youngest ever athlete to compete in the Paralympics at age just 13 and then became the youngest person to be awarded an MBE, before later becoming an OBE.
It won’t be the first time the show has made history either, as last year it featured the first ever same-sex pairing John Whaite and Johannes Radebe who reached the final and also featured its first deaf contestant, Visionary Honours winner, Rose Ayling-Ellis, who also went on to win the competition.
Since her sporting success Ellie has since commentated on the sport, and made two documentaries, including Ellie Simmonds: A World without Dwarfism? and fronted a documentary investigating a controversial new drug created to allow children with achondroplasia dwarfism to grow closer to an average height.
Ellie is said to be looking forward to representing people with disabilities.
“I’ll be the first dwarf doing this show and I just want to show how positive it is – being different is okay. It is a real honour”
Strictly is set to hit our screens this September on BBC 1.
