Holly Willoughby Slammed For 'Insensitive' Comment To Deaf Strictly Winner

This Morning viewers have slammed Holly Willoughby for an ‘insensitive’ comment she made while interviewing Strictly Come Dancing champions Rose Ayling-Ellis, 27, and Giovani Pernice, 31, today. 

Ayling-Ellis – who is known for playing Frankie Lewis in EastEnders – made history when she became the first ever deaf contestant on the BBC One dancing competition, later being crowned winner alongside her dance partner Pernice. 

One of their standout performances came when they danced to ‘Symphony’ by Clean Bandit, having stopped the track midway through to continue the routine in complete silence for 10 seconds – a poignant tribute to the deaf community. 

BBC

Earlier today, the duo appeared on This Morning to speak to Willoughby and her co-host Philip Schofield about their plans to take that very dance on tour. 

Ayling-Ellis said: “We said it'd be weird for us not to do it, I think." 

Pernice explained: "It's such an important dance. It's a statement in an arena with 10,000 people live and to stop the music would be quite spectacular. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever done on Strictly." 

Willoughby, 40, then told the pair: "You won't be able to hear a pin drop in the arena at that moment, let me tell you. 

“It was just a bit of magic on TV actually." 

Many viewers at home were slightly surprised by the remark, saying her comment was ‘insensitive’ and ‘awkward’. 

One tweeted: "'You could hear a pin drop' is not the best thing to say, Holly..." 

Someone else said: "Beautiful dance but your comment Holly??? Jeez terrible." 

ITV

A third added: "I can’t believe Holly just told Rose ‘you won’t hear a pin drop’ how insensitive #ThisMorning." 

A fourth also wrote: "Well that was awkward Holly, telling Rose she won’t be able to hear a pin drop in the audience." 

One other person, however, also pointed out that there was another problem with what Willoughby said – this time from the perspective of the English language. 

“The saying is you CAN hear a pin drop so doubly awkward Holly said you won't be able to hear a pin drop... #ThisMorning,” they said. 

Okay, hands up... Who's going to admit to not noticing that when they first watched the interview?

Topics: TV and Film, Holly Willoughby

Jess Hardiman

Jess is Entertainment Desk Lead at LADbible Group. She graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman