Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice win Must-See Moment BAFTA for ‘silent’ Strictly dance

EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis and her Strictly dance partner Giovanni Pernice have won the Must-See Moment award at this year’s BAFTA TV Awards.

The accolade, the only one determined by the voting public, was awarded for their ‘silent’ dance to Clean Bandit’s “Symphony” during last year’s series of the BBC dance competition – which the pair went on to win in December.

Speaking “I knew it would make an impact but I didn’t think it would make this much of an impact that it’s changed people’s attitudes towards deaf people.

“I can’t believe how powerful dance can be.”

Our #MustSeeMoment nominees @RoseAylingEllis and @pernicegiovann1 surprised the children of @FrankBarnesDeaf teaching them some dance moves!💃🕺

Tune in to the #VirginMediaBAFTAs 8th May, 6PM on BBC One to see who wins. @baftahttps://t.co/SETjSqB8xb pic.twitter.com/aQGUNV0XWx

— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) May 5, 2022

The other five nominees in the category included scenes from Squid Game, It’s A Sin and Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK.

Accepting the award alongside a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, Rose said: “I just want to say thank you to every single person who voted because it’s a very special moment for us, because hopefully we showed how powerful TV can be. That it’s actually influenced some changes.

“It’s even helped the BSL law to be passed recently, it made people stand up more for sign language [and] just better deaf awareness.

“We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s such a great start.”

The comments were met with signed applause from the audience, and TV star Rochelle Humes – who presented the award alongside DJ Clara Amfo – signed the news that the pair had won in their announcement.

Giovanni added: “This [moment] has changed people’s lives, and as a dancer, and as a teacher, that’s exactly what makes us proud.

“Thank you to everybody who voted for us because that means that you’re ready for a change. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Photo: BAFTA/BBC.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.