BBC Strictly Come Dancing star promises there'll be 'payback' over viewer backlash

A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star has vowed "payback" after trolls targeted her over her disability. Cruel trolls have savaged Tasha Ghouri, the Love Island star, as she remains the favourite for the Glitterball Trophy as we progress through the current series.

BBC dancer Tasha has now hit back at cruel remarks. Tasha, who is deaf, said: “I’m in my slay era. This era is payback, proving people wrong. A lot of people doubted me, and a lot of people didn’t think I’d get far at all."

Tasha, who shot to fame on Love Island back in 2022, went on to say: “This is the moment I can show I never stopped believing in myself, it’s got me to where I am now.” Tasha said: “I’ve dealt with cyber bullying. I wasn’t somebody who was getting bullied at school.

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"It was mostly online, but how I thought about it at the time was school was not for ever, it’s not my whole life. I always had that end game, I knew I was going to leave my home town (of Thirsk). I knew I was going to London, that’s what kept me going.

“When I came off Love Island, I had to deal with a lot of people saying stuff about my voice, people tweeting about ripping out my cochlear implant and throwing it in the pool." Tasha is paired with Aljaz Skorjanec for the ongoing series.

She remains the favourite to win the whole show - and she told the Sun ahead of the Blackpool special tonight: "Being brutally honest, there were two girls on TikTok and I still remember to this day, they took the mickey out of my voice and that went viral. It’s still not been taken down. That could have really affected my mental health, but actually I used it as fuel to my fire to do better for my community, to educate people.”