Ellie: I won’t let the trolls get me down
PARALYMPIAN swimmer Ellie Simmonds has revealed she has been targeted by vile trolls online ahead of the new series of Strictly.
But Ellie, who has five Paralympic gold medals, refuses to let the bullies ruin the fact she will become the show’s first contestant with dwarfism.
Ellie said: “Some people have said, ‘How’s the dwarf going to dance?’
“It’s sad… it does get to you. But from that one comment, there are so many other amazing comments.”
Ellie, 27, who was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year when she was just 14, told how she has received good luck messages from all over the world during the build-up to Friday’s launch.
“People have reached out to me,” she said. “It’s been so touching.
“I never thought I’d do Strictly. When I got the call I was, like, ‘Wow’. If only I had this as a child, watching someone with dwarfism on a dancing show…
“I did wonder whether I should do it, then I thought I’d take a leap of faith. You don’t know until you try.
“It’s so out of my comfort zone. I’m used to wet hair, chlorine and swimming costumes!”
Ellie was thrilled to find that the Strictly team had adapted the studio to fit her needs.
“They got me a smaller clothes rail,” she says. “It’s little things like that to make me comfortable.”
Ellie has also been getting dance tips from US reality star Terra Jolé, 42, who also has dwarfism and went on America’s Strictly spin-off, Dancing with the Stars in 2016.
She said: “I’m not going to be like any other celeb, with that partnership where you can hold each other.
“But if I can do it, there are going to be so many others out there watching it thinking, ‘I can do it’.”