Strictly Come Dancing fans felt emotional as they clocked Giovanni Pernice's tribute to his 2021 dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis. As the popular long-running dance contest continued with its first results show of the series, Giovanni and his new celeb partner Richie Anderson were elated to be told that they were through to next week.
Last year pro dancer Giovanni and EastEnders star Rose won hearts as they broke down barriers on Strictly and went to be crowned winners. Rose made history as Strictly's first deaf contestant last year and has campaigned for British Sign Language to be recognised as an official language and be given legal status in the UK.
The star performed a moving routine with Giovanni featuring 10 seconds of silence as a tribute to the deaf community. In May Rose became the first celebrity to sign a CBeebies bedtime story to mark the end of Deaf Awareness Week. Using British Sign Language the actress, who has been deaf since birth, told the tale of a young bear who struggles to hear.
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Interviewed ahead of the Platinum Party at the Palace in honour of the Queen's 70 year reign, Rose said her work isn't finished yet. "I would like to carry on with it because I still feel that my work isn't done," she said.
"I've still got so much work I could do. And I want to do more and I want to raise more awareness because there is so much to learn about the deaf community and I really wanted to share that."
As Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly announced that the pair were safe, Giovanni and Richie looked to the camera and thanked fans three times as they said thank you in British Sign Language. Giovanni started signing "thank you" while competing with Rose just over a year ago.
@junimo_crossing tweeted: "Giovanni still saying thank you in BSL got me all up in my emotions!" @lightsandsounds said with a teary emoji: "Giovanni continuing to sign after competing with Rose."
@jesshoskingx wrote: "Missed Giovanni’s thank yous to the camera so much." @d0nt_Blink_ tweeted: "It's so cute that Giovanni still does the BSL for 'thank you' when he goes through, I love that." And @effcee1969 praised: "It’s heartening to see that Giovanni is still promoting deaf awareness on Strictly by signing ‘thank you’ tonight, even though he no longer dances with Rose."
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