'My feet have not touched the ground yet,' grins Tasha Ghouri, of making it to what many consider to have been the best-ever finale of Strictly Come Dancing. 'It's been a magical experience.'
Pre-Strictly, Tasha was best known for being the first deaf contestant on Love Island. In 2022, she and Andrew Le Page came fourth on the show. The couple now live happily with their dog Luna, and have many fashion and beauty ambassadorships thanks to their enormous social media followings. So far, so classic Love Island trajectory.
But everything changed when 26-year-old Tasha was partnered with Aljaž Škorjanec on Strictly, going on to become the highest-scoring couple ever. 'That was a dream come true,' she says. 'You know, winning Strictly wasn't necessarily the goal. It was more about leaving my footprint on the show.'
Although she made it to the finale, the glitter ball trophy was lifted by comedian Chris McCausland, who is registered blind. 'On day one, when I was getting to know the other contestants, I remember messaging my friends and family, saying, “No one's ready for Chris,”’ she says. 'He’s unstoppable.’
She’s so proud that two of the four finalists had a disability, because it felt normal rather than tokenistic. Tasha was born completely deaf in both ears and wears a cochlear implant to hear. Rather than try to hide it, she has made a feature of it on Strictly, decorating it to coordinate with each dance costume.
‘I’ve had young people sending me pictures of how they’ve bedazzled their own cochlear implants or hearing aids,’ she says, ‘and I’ve had messages from parents saying: “Thank you for doing this, my child feels much more confident now.” That's the power of representation. It’s been such a beautiful thing to normalise it.’
Of course, it wouldn’t be Strictly without a wardrobe malfunction and, when I ask if there were any behind-the-scenes incidents that viewers didn’t see, she looks very sheepish.
‘I’ve not told anyone about this but… when it was Halloween Week, I wore this Frankenstein costume, which was a blue unitard that I’d been sewn into,’ she remembers. ’I really needed the toilet, but we didn't have time to cut it off me, so they had to basically cut a hole in the crotch for me to go, and then stitch the hole back up before I went on stage!’
Viewers watching her samba that night wouldn’t have had a clue; it was just as perfect as all of her dances - notably the very sexy barefoot dance to P!nk’s 'What About Us'.
Andrew has been supportive throughout, and wasn’t at all concerned about the notorious 'Strictly curse', which has seen on-screen chemistry break up off-screen relationships. In fact, he had a bit of a bromance with Aljaž (whose wife Janette Manrara also works on the show, as host of spin-off It Takes Two). The whole experience has been good for them. ‘It’s been such a busy two years since Love Island that I slightly lost who Tasha was,’ she says, ‘but Strictly gave me back that spark, and I’m so happy to have found her again.'
As for what’s next, she’s written a book, Your Superpower, which is part-memoir and part-guide to embracing difference, publishing in March. And says she’d love to move into presenting. ‘Watching Tess every Saturday night made me realise that, one day, I would love to be like her,’ she says. ‘I'm still young, and I've got a lot to learn, but she is what I would like to be in the future.'
The host of Strictly 2045? Our money’s on Tasha.