Rose Ayling-Ellis ‘excited’ to make history as deaf Paralympics coverage host

Actress Rose Ayling-Ellis has said “it is really exciting” to be the first deaf person to host a live sports show, presenting the Paralympic Games in France for Channel 4.

The Strictly Come Dancing winner and former EastEnders star 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.

Former rugby union player Ed Jackson, racing car driver turned pundit Billy Monger, BBC Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope, and comedian Josh Pugh will also be part of Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris Paralympic Games.

Ayling-Ellis has completed a string of firsts, including making history on Strictly as the first deaf contestant, and reading a CBeebies bedtime story in sign language.

She said the Paralympics is “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 added: “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 also said she has had “lots of training” before taking on her first hosting gig.

“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.”

She went on: “My career so far has been quite mad, and this is another job for me to challenge myself really.

“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.

Last year, she made her West End debut in the Shakespearean romantic comedy As You Like It at Soho Place and was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance.

Simmonds, who won a TV Bafta for ITV documentary Finding My Secret Family, in which she tracked down her birth mother, said she “cannot wait” to present the Paralympics.

The 29-year-old, another former Strictly contestant, said: “The Paralympics means everything to me. It’s the sport and games that made me.”

Balding, who has presented Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, called it the “peak of the summer of sport”.

“A lot of live presenting is reliant on talk-back, 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,” she 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, 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.”

– Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, will be available to stream and watch live on Channel 4 between August 28 and September 8.