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A 23-year-old model and dancer has become the first deaf contestant on the ITV2 dating show Love Island.
Tasha Ghouri, from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, gathered the contestants to reveal she had been completely deaf from birth and she wore a cochlear implant in her right ear.
Calling it her “superpower”, Ms Ghouri told them: “It’s just something cool that I’ve got about myself.”
She added: “It doesn’t define me, it’s just a part of who I am.”
On the first episode of the new series, fellow Love Island contestants praised Ms Ghouri for her openness.
Indiyah Polack said: “She was so open about it and I could see in her face that was a big thing for her.
“I just honestly wanted to give her a big hug because I just wanted her to know she’s not alone and we’re all here to support her no matter what she’s going through and we all love her.”
Contestant Luca Bish, a fishmonger from Brighton, said: “Literally, I would not have had a clue, and to say it in front of a bunch of people who you’ve never kind of even met or know… credit to her.”
Hannah Tweddle, a dance teacher who taught Ms Ghouri for about 10 years, said: “She is an amazing person with a wicked sense of humour. She is very kind, very genuine. She is fabulous.”
Of Ms Ghouri’s dancing, she said: “When she was younger, we didn’t really make too many changes for her.
“She could hear enough and with very bassy music she picked up the rhythm and the sound really easily. She was good.”
Last year, actress Rose Ayling-Ellis became the first deaf contestant to win BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The EastEnders star stole the show with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice and was widely praised for raising awareness of the deaf community.
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