Strictly's Ellie Simmonds reacts to touching fan response

Strictly Come Dancing star Ellie Simmonds, who is a paralympic swimmer, has responded to the touching fan messages and support from the public she's been receiving since joining the show.

Speaking to the BBC about her experience, she said: "When we go out in the streets and [get] the messages, the support has been amazing. And it touches our heart every single day, the messages that we get from people.

"It means so, so much, and especially doing it together [with dance partner Nikita Kuzmin] in this journey, and not just together, but for everyone out there watching who is in the dwarfism community, disability community or anyone different."

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nikita kuzmin and ellie simmonds, strictly come dancing 2022, week 2

BBC

The Paralympian recently opened up about what it means to her to be appearing on the show.

During an appearance on BBC Two's It Takes Two, Simmonds was asked by host Rylan Clark about how she felt after her emotional performance last weekend.

"We shed a tear, it meant everything to us," Ellie replied. "It was a dance not just for me and you, but for everyone watching, for the disability community, dwarfism community. The emotion showed."

strictly come dancing 2022 week 1 ellie simmons and nikita kuzmin

Guy Levy//BBC

She also recently talked about taking part in the show and her fears over the height difference between her and Nikita.

In an interview with Digital Spy, the gold medalist opened up about what people's reactions were after finding out she was taking part in the show.

"In the dwarfism community, I've had so many different people reaching out not just in the UK here but worldwide being like: 'Wow, Ellie you're doing this, you're gonna help us and represent us' and like, that's a huge, huge honour. Yes swimming I was able to do that but something like this is just a whole new ballgame," she said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One, while spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows also stream on BBC iPlayer.