Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice have been crowned the overall winners of the Strictly Come Dancing live tour – having won all but two arena shows.
The EastEnders actress and her professional dancer won the latest series of the popular BBC dance competition in December, before embarking on a UK tour with fellow contestants.
Their final show at the O2 Arena on Sunday saw them claim their 31st win, out of a total of 33 shows.
Your champions @RoseAylingEllis and @pernicegiovann1 with their Glitterballs! (VT from Luba Mushtuk 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/fpPWMWZual
— Giovanni and Rose (@TeamRio_SCD) February 13, 2022
Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies and her partner Aljaž Škorjanec won one performance at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, while Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite and pro Johannes Radebe lifted the trophy at the AO Arena in Manchester.
Rose recently said of the tour: “Honestly [it has] made me very thankful for all the love and support from lots of people.
“I am a very lucky person to have this crazy experience.”
In a post on social media on Sunday, Giovanni wrote: “SCD champion [green tick emoji]. SCD live tour champion [green tick emoji].
“The end of our [Strictly] journey but the beginning of an eternal friendship! I love you [Rose] THANK YOU for the best 6 months of my life!”
The pair’s overall victory on the Strictly live tour comes just days after their ‘silent dance’ on the show – which quickly went viral online – was awarded ‘Moment of the Year’ at the Broadcast Awards.
Responding to the news on Instagram, Rose wrote: “Thank you! This is so exciting.”
“Another incredible achievement for us […] and our incredible [Strictly] family! We love you,” Giovanni added.
Photo: BBC.
By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.
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Hartmut
February 16, 2022
One thing bothers me. Although I must say that her and her partner’s performances are outstanding, I miss her full signing and the fact that her BSL interpreter was seen only spottingly on the screen. The subtitles/captions by BBC are SHITTY and takes away from watching her in the hope of catching her few signs. That was what the Oscar winner of Best actress Marlee Matlin did, speaking for herself most of the time, also when in her reception speech of Oscar. But now she stopped this practice altogether. I hope, Rose will catch that sooner than what Marlee did.