Ellie Simmonds Becomes Strictly Come Dancing’s First Contestant With Dwarfism

Partnered with Ukrainian professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, Britain’s 27-year-old Paralympic swimming gold medallist, Ellie Simmonds, has been selected to join this year’s cohort of celebrities to compete in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Historically, Strictly Come Dancing has been good at inviting disabled competitors to their glitzy dancefloor. Fellow Para athletes Lauren Steadman, JJ Chalmers, and Jonnie Peacock all appeared on earlier series. Last year, actress Rose Ayling-Ellis went on to win the competition, slashing any preconceptions people might have previously had about deaf people dancing.

The Saturday night entertainment show has long been a staple in the British countdown to Christmas, but the first live episode of this series, which aired on Saturday 24 September, garnered the smallest audience in eight years. An average of 6.8 million viewers tuned into the BBC, a million down from 2021.

Some put this down to Strictly Come Dancing becoming “the BBC’s latest woke box-ticking exercise”. The Telegraph’s Allison Pearson of questioned: “Could that have anything to do with pushing indigestible quantities of diversity down viewers’ throats?” and slated producers for valuing “’inclusion’ over entertainment”!?

That said, the opening show saw the judges award four near-perfect nines and a blizzard of eights suggesting that this year’s couples have a lot to give. Creative director Jason Gilkison says that this might just be the best batch of celebrities the contest has ever had. And Michael Hogan of The Telegraph agreed: “The level of raw talent on display indicated that this could be a vintage year.”

Week one saw Simmonds ace a sassy cha cha to Dance by DNCE, earning herself and Kuzmin 26 points from the judges. While Simmonds got off to a confident start in the first week, viewers speculated around how she would manage other dance routines due to the height difference between her and Kuzmin.

On Saturday 1 October, the pair astonished viewers with their waltz to Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love, which gained them an impressive score of 30 and a standing ovation from the audience and judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse. Simmonds got emotional as she accepted praise from the judging panel.

Head judge Ballas commented: “There’s so much magic in something so simple and that’s what you did today. It was just beautifully executed.”

Simmonds took to Twitter to thank fans for all their messages of encouragement and votes, as well as her dancing partner for his “time, patience, [and] passion”.

Ellie Simmonds Tweet

In an article for The Guardian, writer, editor, and public speaker Cathy Reay, who also has dwarfism, said: “People like to play down the impact representation has, but or those whose body types are never shown in certain contexts, it can be incredibly powerful to see someone like us participating in something we might have otherwise deemed impossible.”

On Twitter, Reay shared an enlightening story about her daughter’s reaction to seeing Simmonds, a representation of her dwarfism, on the popular Saturday night show.

Cathy Reay Tweet

After the first two weeks of action, Simmonds and Kuzmin sit fifth on the Strictly Come Dancing leader board.