A new contestant on Strictly Come Dancing was a teen victim of cyberbullies who told her to “go and get cancer”.
Reality TV star, Tasha Ghouri, who rose to fame on Love Island, was announced in the celebrity line-up for the 2024 series.
Tasha, originally from Yorkshire, was born deaf and received her cochlear implant when she was five.
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The model and dancer uses her platform to raise awareness for implant users, sign language and the deaf community.
Strictly has recently been hit with claims of bullying by former production staff and contestants including Amanda Abbington and Zara McDermott.
Recent allegations present concerns for the future of the BBC show.
Twenty-five-year-old Tasha, who is set to join the cast, has suffered bullying in the past herself.
Two years ago, Ofcom received over 2,000 complaints about male Love Island contestants’ “misogynistic” treatment of Tasha on screen.
But this isn’t the first time the young woman has dealt with this type of scenario.
It has been revealed that when she was 14, the star was “abused online” by fellow pupils.
The incident was so severe that Tasha even took part in a school campaign to highlight the issue of bullying.
In a BBC TV report, her concerned dad, Tarek Ghouri, said at the time: “My daughter was being abused online.
“I researched it and was horrified to see anonymous posts.
“I felt compelled to do something.
“I raised awareness with the school, because even though it happens out of school, the impact happens in school.”
Tasha’s entire school got together and held a huge forum on cyberbullying, including a debate.
At the time, the teen said people would call her ugly and flat-chested, as reported by Need To Know.
“Some of the comments were, ‘Go and get cancer’, ‘You don’t belong here’, ‘Go and die’, ‘Go and hang yourself’, ‘You’re flat-chested’, ‘Your family’s ugly’,” Tasha explained in the recorded report, which aired in 2012.
“It’s horrible things.”
BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has apologised to Strictly contestants and warned the show’s professionals about unacceptable behaviour.
The show will return in autumn.
Tasha Ghouri appeared on the eighth series of Love Island in 2022.
She finished in fourth place with Andrew Le Page, with whom she is still in a relationship.
Afterwards, she used her platform to encourage people to learn sign language.
She later became an ambassador for Ann Summers featuring in a Christmas advert and fronting their Luminescent collection.
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