Ellie Simmonds

There are plants everywhere, plus a TV of course, which I watch curled up on my sofa under a cosy blanket.

What have you been watching recently?

I’ve just finished Breathtaking, the drama about Covid in hospitals, and One Day, which brought a few tears to my eyes. I’m starting Emily in Paris next.

Any TV turn-offs?

I love hospital documentaries like GPs: behind Closed Doors, but sometimes I switch over because I’m quite sensitive about blood and gore and needles. I was the one that used to faint in PSHE classes at school!

Did you enjoy being a guest judge on Great British Menu?

It was so much fun. Who wouldn’t like eating food made by the best chefs in the country? I judged the vegetarian course and every bite was heaven. Although, I was a bit jealous of Jess (Ennis-Hill) for judging the dessert course. I found it really tough to decide the winner, but I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed the power!

The banquet with Olympians and Paralympians in Paris must have been a bit of a reunion.

It really was! It was nice to cheer on the athletes for Paris 2024, which I think will be a fantastic Games. I was talking to Mo Farah last night and it’s crazy how people still talk to us about Super Saturday or the swimming. I love that, as a nation, we still have those memories of London 2012.

Will it be odd to be at the Paralympics and not compete?

It’s going to be so nice because I won’t be s****ing myself! I can just go and enjoy watching the best of the best from a spectator’s point of view. I’m hoping to be on the commentary team, but I’ll be there one way or another.

The years you competed in the Paralympics — from 2008 to 2021 — saw the movement transform. What was that like from the inside?

An honour. Watching Athens 2004 inspired me to go to the Paralympics at a time when many people didn’t really know they existed. After Beijing, things started to change, then London was the catalyst that finally got the Paralympics seen as world-class, like the Olympics. Seeing people with different disabilities excelling at sport also helps with representation in society. It’s important that kids – or anyone, really – can look up to Paralympians and individuals with disabilities and see that difference in society should be visible and celebrated.

How did you prepare for retirement?

You lose a massive part of your identity. There are highs and lows because you’re used to having a purpose. When all of that goes, it can be hard. I went into a sporting job but couldn’t do the nine-to-five thing. I’m very lucky my work is so varied, from working on Lorraine or with fashion designers to podcasts and corporate projects.

How do you look back on your Strictly experience?

The training was tough, but I loved it. To be paired with Nikita was a dream, and I’ve made friends for life.

You made two documentaries recently, one about drugs used to treat children with dwarfism and another on adoption. Why were they important to you?

They were both amazing opportunities. I thought I knew everything to do with dwarfism, but to hear all those different points of view was eye-opening. Opening up about being adopted and disability and meeting my birth mum was really personal. To know the information my birth mother was given about me – things like the idea that children with dwarfism would traditionally find work in circuses – was so sad. The more we can talk about disability, the more change and acceptance we can drive until people with disabilities are treated exactly like everyone else.