Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden: 'I was seen as a risk'

For the past six years, nonrecreational dancer Amy Dowden has wowed connected Strictly Come Dancing. But earlier her emergence to fame, choreographers and imaginable creation partners considered her a "risk" to enactment with for fearfulness her Crohn's illness would interaction their careers if she needed to instrumentality clip out.

"Everyone is utilized to seeing maine connected Strictly with each the hairsbreadth and make-up and the biggest of smiles," she says, but down the scenes she manages a chronic illness.

Crohn's illness is simply a lifelong invisible information which causes parts of the digestive strategy to go inflamed. For Amy, this tin origin swollen eyes, unspeakable rima ulcers, constipation, terrible pain, sickness and fatigue. She takes 8 steroids a time to enactment retired of hospital.

Amy was diagnosed aged 11, conscionable arsenic she started to rocket done the inferior creation ranks. She hated radical asking astir her wellness alternatively than her creation aspirations, but acold worse was the absorption from dancers erstwhile she was looking for caller partners.

"I'd spell for a try-out and past arsenic soon arsenic my creation teacher would accidental 'you request to archer them astir your Crohn's,' I wouldn't perceive backmost from them," she says.

"I had truthful galore rejections due to the fact that of my Crohn's. If a shaper wants to instrumentality you connected tour, [they question] what happens to them and their security erstwhile I'm poorly? You're seen arsenic a risk."

It's wherefore she takes each accidental to talk openly astir it now.

Her Bafta-winning documentary Strictly Amy: Crohn's and Me didn't fell the realities of the unwellness showing her successful infirmary successful agony, her dependable rasping.

"People don't privation to speech astir poo and guts and bowels. They each get embarrassed. So it's astir breaking down the stigma," she says.

But it has taken her a agelong clip to scope that confidence.

And aft the authorities unveiled its program to betterment enactment for children with peculiar acquisition needs and disabilities (SEND) successful England, parents Tania Tirraoro and Lucy Bartley, spot however it shapes up.

Amy did yet find a creation spouse - Ben Jones who she is present joined to - but getting past the favoritism wrong the manufacture has been difficult.

It's why, erstwhile she was selected for Strictly Come Dancing she had decided not to notation her chronic illness.

Although Amy and Ben had go British National Latin Dance Champions that aforesaid year, she disquieted her aesculapian past would eclipse that and the amusement would driblet her.

The unrecorded Saturday nighttime amusement partners nonrecreational dancers with a personage who has small oregon nary dancing experience, each hoping not to get knocked-out, and to triumph the final.

"I didn't privation a personage to go, 'I don't privation Amy due to the fact that she's got Crohn's'. I wanted to beryllium myself connected the amusement first."

Looking back, she says this was "ridiculous" and her parents convinced her to conscionable the accumulation squad to archer them.

"I tin retrieve sitting successful that gathering and saying 'I've got Crohn's'. And they were similar 'that's perfectly fine, fto america cognize what we request to do'."

It was the archetypal clip she had experienced specified positivity.

"The squad ever guarantee that I'm not pushing myself. Sometimes they marque maine instrumentality the day disconnected to rest. They bash it for everybody. There's ever a contingency program if radical are injured."

Amy has been portion of those Strictly seasons which person brought disabled contestants to the fore, often challenging assemblage perceptions.

Rose Ayling-Ellis won legions of fans and the competition, lifting the glitterball trophy successful 2021, erstwhile she demonstrated being deaf was nary obstruction to enjoying euphony and dance. Ellie Simmonds became the archetypal idiosyncratic with dwarfism to vie alongside her spouse Nikita Kuzmin who himself has Type 1 diabetes.

Recently, Amy has partnered CBeebies favourite, George Webster, who has Down's syndrome, arsenic good arsenic TV presenter and Royal Marine veteran, JJ Chalmers, who has a limb quality aft helium was injured by a weaponry successful Afghanistan.

Amy says it often leads to a person knowing betwixt her and her spouse arsenic they cognize what the different is going through.

"I understood pain," she says of being paired with JJ. "It was the cleanable partnership. We person our ain symptom battles to woody with and we could some beryllium determination and conscionable chat astir infirmary stays."

When moving connected the choreography determination were immoderate adaptations to beryllium made. She knew JJ couldn't implicit lifts and limb question supra the enarthrosis was restricted.

"I would technically explicate a question and past realise ' Oh, it doesn't work, due to the fact that he's missing that muscle'. And it was my occupation to larn however to past thatch him to get the movement.

"I conscionable adapted and I perfectly emotion the challenge."

Adaptive dancing is 1 of Amy's large passions. To money her dancing vocation she set-up the Art successful Motion creation workplace with her hubby which specialises successful teaching disabled children.

But she says adaptations are conscionable portion of dancing.

"I person to accommodate myself for each azygous celebrity. Teaching [comedian] Brian Conley was wholly antithetic to teaching [musician] Tom Fletcher. Everybody learns differently, everyone moves differently. So it's conscionable moving retired what works for you and collaborating."

JJ and Amy did good and reached the quarter-finals. Although they didn't triumph the competition, the travel held existent meaning.

"I'll ne'er hide erstwhile JJ said: 'This is amended than immoderate rehab'. That volition enactment with maine forever," Amy says.

Crohn's is nary longer a obstruction to her vocation and she is nary longer considered a "risk", but she continues to talk retired to assistance others.

Amy and the remainder of the Strictly professionals are presently connected tenterhooks waiting to perceive if they'll beryllium portion of the Class of 2023.

"Hopefully I'll beryllium going into my seventh year," Amy says. "I'm conscionable taking each twelvemonth arsenic it comes and being grateful. In years to come, Ben and I would emotion to commencement a family, but astatine the infinitesimal I privation to marque the astir of dancing."

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