01 October 2023 , 22:05
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Strictly Come Dancing viewers have spotted a sweet tribute by professional dancer Giovanni Pernice to his former dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis.
Giovanni and Rose won the show in 2021 and were applauded for their beautiful dances and for Rose's performances whilst not letting her deafness hold her back. Rose used her platform in 2021 to raise awareness for the deaf community, performing a part of one dance in silence to show her experiences and asking for sign interpreters to be standard for TV programmes.
Ever since being partnered together, the pair used to use the British Sign Language symbol for 'Thank you' every time they were voted through by the public. Two years on and eagle-eyed viewers have spotted that Giovanni still makes the 'thank you' gesture that he learned whilst partnering Rose.
Strictly viewers spotted Giovanni making a sweet gesture to former dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis (BBC)On tonight's show (1 October), Giovanni signed it as his name and dance partner Amanda Abbington's name were called out as they were safe to dance again next week.
The pair danced up a storm with their fiery Salsa to Oye by Gloria Estefan., which saw them earn scores of eight from each of the four judges. Combining their scores saw a total of 32, giving them an impressive position on the Strictly leaderboard.
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The dance went down well with viewers at home, with votes flooding in to see the Strictly pair safe to dance on week three next week. As their names were called, the ecstatic pair said thank you with Giovanni making the sign language gesture too. The sign, which Giovanni performed for the camera, involves tipping the fingers of one hand from the chin downwards.
Giovanni uses the gesture that he was taught by former dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis, when the pair danced and won Strictly in 2021 (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)The touching tribute did not go unnoticed by Strictly viewers as they took to social media to praise his sign language gesture. One Strictly fan commented: "Gio still signing “thank you” shows a marvellous character and continued respect for the new fanbase he picked up through Rose. Pure."
Another also spotted it as they shared: "Giovanni continuing to sign after being partnered with Rose always gets me."
"Oh, How I've missed Giovanni's "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You". I love that man," said a third.
Last year fans spotted Giovanni performing the gesture, as it appears he continues to uphold the tradition he had with Rose each week.
On the first elimination of this year's Strictly, comedian and actor Les Dennis was sent home after the dance-off. Dancing alongside his professional partner Nancy Xu, the pair were unfortunately voted off the dance competition as all four judges instead chose to save Nikita Kanada and her partner Gorka Marquez.