Strictly Come Dancing’s Sarah Hadland has said the “pressure” fellow contestant Tasha Ghouri is under is “so harsh.”
During last week’s live episode, Tasha broke down in tears and said she felt like she “let down the whole deaf community” after receiving hundreds of hurtful remarks about her speech patterns while on Love Island.
Through her endearing performances, Tasha has emphasised the significance of normalising her impairment since her appearance on Strictly.
In 2022, Tasha became the first deaf contestant on Love Island.
She was born deaf and got her cochlear implant at the age of five.
In an interview with The Times, Sarah, expressed her disgust at the criticism younger women face on social media.
She said: “Take lovely Tasha [Ghouri] on Strictly. The pressure people are under from social media now is so harsh, the judgment.”
“You think, ‘Gosh, we didn’t have any of that.'”
Tasha told Strictly viewers in the tearful interview: “I remember my dad sat me down and he looked at me straight and said ‘Tash, there is a lot of horrific stuff that was written about you, especially on social media.'”
“There are videos made about my voice and the way I speak, it became a trend at one point.”
“And it really, really hit me rock bottom. Because I wanted to go on for representation and I feel like I failed, not just myself but, the whole deaf community.”
Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri has been hit by “fix” claims, since making her impressive debut on Strictly Come Dancing.
During the first live show, the reality star jumped to the top of the leaderboard alongside her dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec, after impressing judges with their cha cha to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter.
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The pair secured 30 points from the judging panel, making them joint second with Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola.
B Gill and Amy Dowden secured first place on the leaderboard, after scoring 31 points with their waltz to When I Need You by Leo Sayer.
While many praised Tasha’s performance during the first live show, some viewers took to social media to claim she has an unfair advantage due to her dance experience.
One tweeted: “I love tasha but she isn’t meant to be on the show because she is already a PROFESSIONAL DANCER.”
Another commented: “Tasha getting all high scores but sure she’s a professional dancer, bit unfair.”
OMG TASHA JUST ATEEE THAT CHA CHA !!!!!
I AM BLOWN AWAY !!!!!!
SHE JUST SET THE BAR UP HIGH AFTER THAT !!!!
OMG HER LEGS AND HER TECHNIQUE IS JUST OUTSTANDING !!!!
MY FIRST DESERVED 8 FOR THE NIGHT !!!!!!#StrictlyComeDancing #Strictly2024 pic.twitter.com/SSczEHDidI
— KaMorian (Sparkling Alien 💫) (@ka_morian0121) September 21, 2024
However, others jumped to her defence, arguing that she’s not trained in ballroom or latin dancing.
One fan commented on Instagram: “Everyone moaning about her being a dancer, she’s not trained in Latin or Ballroom!! It’s a completely different skill, yes she has rhythm but honestly if you don’t then shouldn’t even be on there.”
Another wrote: “Cue the ‘but she has dance experience’ yet I put money on it, none of them will bat an eyelid about all the actors this year that went to highly rated theatre schools were they have to do dance exams, west end training is closer to Strictly than street, you can’t pick and choose when dance experience matters.”
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Before she shot to fame on Love Island, Tasha trained in commercial dance at the Creative Academy in Slough, and later competed in dance competitions.
During a recent interview with The Independent ahead of her Strictly debut, Tasha explained: “Commercial dance is very different to ballroom dance and latin…”
“I’m still having to strip down and relearn, even walking in cha cha step is weird to me – you have to turn out your feet and lead with your hips, so it’s based on muscle memory. Even letting a man take the lead is a lot.”
