Ellie Goldstein on Strictly And The Hospital Conversation That Changed Everything

0:28This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Baking Hershey's Kisses peanut butter blossoms is the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season with friends and family. With their classic, rich, creamy milk chocolate taste, there's no better way to heart-warm the holidays than by baking with Kisses chocolates. Find Hershey's Kisses holiday chocolates at your favorite retailer. You've modeled for the cover of a glamour magazine, Gucci Adidas. But it was really hard. I'd gone to other agencies previous, but we never heard back. Wonder why. Yeah. Wonder. Oh, my God. What did you love the most about Strictly?

1:07I love this big taste. I had the makeup. What else? I'm the best guy in the world. That actually made me cry. He just picked up on the belly really quickly. Could we talk about the early years? During the pregnancy, something didn't feel right. Went for another scan, and she was literally stuck. So they decided, you need a cesarean. and the doctor scooped her out of the cot, held her in the air like this. This is Ellie. She's got Down syndrome. She will never walk, talk or go to university. The last mother who had one of these left it here. Do you want to do that? We need to talk about Down syndrome, especially to new parents.

1:47More importantly, just showing everyone out there that having Down syndrome, it doesn't stop you. You both have instilled hope for so many people. Let me gas you up fully. She's like, oh, daddy. All right, here we go. I'm surprised for you. All right, you ready?

2:07Before we dive into my conversation with Ellie and her mother, Yvonne, we wanted to let you know we've taken steps to make this episode as accessible as possible. That includes on-screen subtitles and a full transcript linked in the show notes. You'll also find helpful resources about learning disabilities. And if you enjoy the episode, I've got one small favor. Hit the bell icon and subscribe. It's the small things that make a huge impact. I can't tell you how much it helps us make this show and bring you powerful conversations each and every week.

2:47Ellie Goldstein. Yeah. We need to talk. Yes. And Yvonne Goldstein. We need to talk. We do. Okay. All right. So we're going to have a good time. Okay. So can we start with Strictly? Can we start with dancing? Yes. Let's start with this. What did you love the most about Strictly? And I think I can guess, but what did you love the most? So I have to say that love is spread hands. Like every Friday we get spray tans and it's so, so chilling and calming. And the way I do it, it's so cool. The spray on it and it's so clever. It's great. Oh my gosh. I didn't know you would say that. Spray tans. And how the makeup.

3:40Okay. Of course. Then the characters I was in the live show. What else? I'm having my best life. because I, oh, I look the best guy in the world. So many people are going to say this is an ignorant question, but only because I've never used this. Tell me about a spray tan real quick. Do you sleep in a spray tan? Yeah. You do? It doesn't rub off? So I'm going with the Express Dark Tan. Express Dark Tan. Yes. There you go. Does everyone on Strictly get a spray tan? Not everyone. Most. Amber had a tan. Then Alex had it, LeFran had it. Obviously I had it. Then we used to get like a... Bito had it.

4:26And he looked on the schedule every Friday to see who's having the... And that was confident. They were like keeping up outside. Did anyone on Strictly get more tans than you? No. No. Yeah, LeFran had about three. You had it every week. I had it about week one up till... Oh, no, Halloween week, they didn't do it. No, week four. Yeah, because it's Halloween week. Yeah, you didn't need it. All right, fair, fair. I've never met Vito. He looks very, very special. Yes. And it looked like you were brother's sister. We are brother's sister. Yes. Yes. Now, Yvonne, you must have been very happy with that relationship you saw with you.

5:08Yes. I think they just paired them more because of personalities. They were very similar. So I think that was very important to get the relationship right, isn't it? To tell you this now, when I go training, literally it burns up the room. You've got so much no push to do it. Can't wait to tell him what I'm doing today. Yes, yes. Well, I have many surprises for you here today. and I would like to show you a clip and then let's talk about it. Okay? We are thinking how lucky we are to have had each other and how grateful we are and Ellie said to me that she was a big cuddle from her big brother which I'm having you give me a big, big, big one.

5:56And I want to tell you that I love you so much. Love you too, brother. You know how much I love you? I'm talking about. To what? Yeah. To the sun and back. And it's going to be for... Forever. Ever and ever. Yeah, before Ellie told me, when I just arrived and we started, you said that you have got my heart in your heart. Yeah, I got my heart in my heart. And that we got your heart in my heart. So we have got each other's heart. Yeah. I love that. That actually made me cry when I watched that. Why? It's just him. He's just so... Oh, is that him? He's just a very special... Bond. Bond and a person.

6:45And when we've been out and people have asked, is Rita actually as he seems? And I said, he's better. He is right better for me. He's better than he comes... You know, it's all genuine and... Because every night I get voice messages from him. It is so, so cute. and honestly I got rid of the dog on Halloween week I don't know why I got rid of the dog anyways but it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, I'm grateful but it's like a dance off I was crying like, you know what, let's go up there and do it and it was almost as good as I did and we went to the pit bell and we went home unfortunately it was a bit too sad Come on Tiki, we did our bye bye, see you soon, we'll melt dance and I went, Ellie, Ellie, he beat me up and told me, I love you, my sister.

7:37That was best. You were very professional. Yes, yes. But also, Ellie, you just said that he, Vito, would leave you a voice note every night. Every, every night. And it still dies. I've still been training all last week. We've been training. Yesterday. When I go in, he says to me and everyone, I'm going to get doctorate. I went, yes, we are. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get dancing. I can't buy a dance with you again. They're learning the dances now that Ellie didn't get a chance to do. Done a jive. Last week they learned. Done a jive. I've been just jive. Now it's Foxtrot. Tomorrow we're going to do more giggles, telling me about today's podcast and stuff.

8:19Love it. Yeah, he's just a very amazing man. He just picked up on all that really quickly. He never asked me anything about her. He was able to pick it up. He seems to be, I think, what a lot of people don't realize with Strictly is that it's not only you dancing with a professional, it's you learning from a professional. They are teaching you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it seems like either he's a great teacher and or you're a great student because you were, Ellie, you were dancing. Yeah, my life show every weekend. And now there's been a routine every live show, but when I have dinner, I cry. I don't know why, but it's what happens every weekend.

9:04So now this is a routine. So before my dance, so I am nervous. And then when we go on the floor and drag him, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, I don't do it. And then say you're doing, say, the tachar, and I'm on the catwalk. I'm like, well, I got this, but I said, brother and ever, and you dance, I get into happy. After, I'm all relieved because we know the dance. It's over. And then, this is good. Love Craig, he's the best guy ever, but shush. Don't tell him. Oh, my God. That's drama. We can't go there. We can't go there. I'm not going to go there. I had no idea how close you two were. It looked like you were very close, brother and sister, but now here in the case it seems like you were inseparable.

9:54Yeah. Yeah. You know, the whole time. Yeah, he came to support her. He came over and he's in our house and he's there for dinner and it all felt for him natural, like we've known him forever. Which is beautiful. He's part of our family. Yes. He is. So, Ella, do you think you're a good dancer? I think I am. And I'm a good dancer, yes. Yeah, so I think there is no doubt that you are a, not a good, you're a great dancer. Yes. And I have proof. Can we take a look at this little dance here? Okay, I want us to look at this, and I want us to talk about this dance. I love this dance. I love this dance.

10:30You love this dance? I love the touch of child. All right, let's see.

10:41Come on, hey. Look at that girl. You can't stop. You get your... Oh, yeah! When you're dancing like this, are you thinking about the steps, your mom? Thinking about how I was nervous at first. It's so real. I couldn't believe that I was not into this. You know, in this too is, what was Vito saying to you in the dance? I have no idea what... Really? You have no idea what he was saying? No. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So not only is the dancing great, right, but I think also the outfits. Yeah. I love that outfit so much. That outfit is beautiful. Whatever happened to that dress? I don't know. They bigged it up.

11:31Is that the studio? Yeah, still in Elstree. Oh, still at the studio. In Elstree, it's got all my costumes. They got the torture, the vaults, we got the sandbar, a couple of toys. And every Friday we walk past them like, hi costumes, hi costumes. But we walk past it all. So they don't give you the costumes? But they're real now. All of them. Oh, you think so? I don't think so. I think they're real. You guys, the costume department, I work so hard. Oh my gosh. Incredible. All right, so then I have another surprise for you. But Ellie, on this one, you have to close your eyes. Why? It makes the surprise even bigger.

12:17All right, sorry, are you ready? Close your eyes. All right, keep it covered. You're peeking. You're peeking, Ellie. You're peeking. Don't peek. Don't peek. Mom, you have to close your eyes too. Don't peek. Don't peek. Do not peek. Do not peek. Do not peek. All right, now I want you to open your eyes. I want you to take a look. This is a special gift that was sent. From here? Take a look. Oh my God.

12:43What? What? No. What? No, this can't be true. No. This, Ellie, this is a gift to you. From who? From Strictly. What? They have gifted you that exact dress. This is yours. I love this Toss of Toss dress. Because they put all these barcodes. How amazing. And they put on all these tassels. Wow. Oh, my God. You know what's interesting? Also, I had no idea how heavy the dress is. Yeah, some of them are really heavier. Look at that. You're like pearly. Yeah, but when I saw it on Friday, I went, what? And they went, oh, my God. Yeah, it's so beautiful. I love it. Wow, look at that. But look at that. That is yours.

13:45Yes! That is yours. That is yours. Now, I was going to take it. That's priceless. Yeah, that is beautiful. That is beautiful. So then, I'll tell you what. Let me, I'll hold it over on this side for you. I'll take all of these, but this is yours. Gosh, you're so heavy! I know, right? What a surprise. Now, what do you think that you'll do with this? I'm going to wear it into training tomorrow. No, no, no, no, please let me because... No, because then... No, no, no, please listen to me now. If it went into tomorrow, then I'll put on my normal training clothes, so it's fine. Give a surprise second.

14:24No, can I do that? Can I do that? Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. He'll have a shot. I'm doing it tomorrow. She's going to hold you to it. No, I am. She's wearing that dress tomorrow, Mom. I know. Now, let's talk about the judges just a little bit. Oh, please do. Okay. What did you think about the judges? Okay. So, Anton is good. He's got a good presenter, like me and you. Good presenter. Now, Craig. he told me go out there and be beautiful so I did week one to week six I've improved so much from week one to week six watching back when she watches it a lot yeah she's definitely she did improve but each week you just brought so much happiness and joy and all her comments from social media were like incredible like yes now it was positive everyone was and yes you just brought that fun and energy and joy and more importantly just showing everyone out there that having down syndrome it doesn't stop you the community of the messages that ellie's received like you know we can show our children when they're older what you've achieved it was just all like touches your heart you know this has given me a whole new uh perspective on strictly from your eyes right i can see how how challenging it was you took the judges comments each week.

16:01Oh the comments? Yeah. Yeah but the comments were like good or bad and in a room tell me all the positive comments and all the negative. I went to count all of them. You were counting positive versus constructive comments? What I used to do just to help Ellie they used to print off all the judges comments and then show Ellie there was more positives than constructive. No negative. Constructive. But it helped you each week because you improved each week so the constructive comments were helpful. They went the extra mile always for Ellie. It was amazing. Of course. And so what else did they do to help Ellie?

16:42So what else? So in my room I've got a nice desk, pictures of all the welfare and not as tame and I never saw a team. The whole room was just covered in photos of everyone involved. Alison Hammond and the parents and I got a mirror, I got all shoes, I got a mini fridge and I eat my roll, high browns, croissants, fan tart, and I like desserts on that end. And an arm of pies on that end. Your own basket with all your snacks. Goodies. Anything that made any more comfortable. All right, so now it's time for another surprise. Oh! Okay. You ready for this? Yes. Someone from Strictly sent us a video.

17:35Oh. Special message for you, Ellie. Here it is. Here it is. Ellie, my darling. Oh boy, how I've missed you this past couple of weeks. But those weeks that I had with you will forever remain in my heart. I'm getting goosebumps all over. I want you to know what a special young lady you are in every way. You make me laugh. You're funny. And you are a fabulous dancer. now I'm really going to be interested to listen to this podcast that you're doing with Paul, he is amazing and you are simply the best, have a fun time, share those feelings and I'll be looking forward to listening to them, take care wonderful wonderful Ellie, thank you isn't she special she's so cute I love her so much again they let her a couple of weeks before the live started to visit the studio you know?

18:32Yeah, we did. Just to get a feel for it and Vito wanted her to practice walking down the stairs with her. So they did it together and she did it on her own because he was very protective of her coming down the stairs. Well, when we did the no show, we actually helped, not the well. We did, we did. So we saw the judges, do you remember on that day, and Shirley come up to you and said, Ellie, I've been following you on Instagram. Yeah. And I think, yeah, Shirley seemed to have a little soft spot for Ellie. Yes, yeah. I love Shirley Bellis so much. I do. And her story, but I think that what so many people forget is that she not only was a champion, but she is today such an incredible dancer.

19:14Oh, God, yeah. Today, like, she's such an incredible dancer. That was amazing. That was special, wasn't it? It's an honor to my heart. Oh. Wow. Oh, are you? Well, she is lovely. She's great. Yes. What dance was your favorite dance and why? Okay. So the best dance has to be the Tango. Okay. To Abacadabra. All right. So now why? Why was that the best dance for you? Why? Because the dance had walls in place. So the wash was, we put clays, make sort of we are not turned in and not out. And I think it's like when you do like the frame and the hold, I get this binder called Biggle. Broach. So I did it here.

20:12When I did it, I like doing this, that, and I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. It was quite clever, Vito. He put a brooch here so she... I buy that. I can look like that. I see, I see. To help with the angle. Yeah. Currently then, with everyone who's left, who would you like to see when? I'd buy any guitar and I'd think I'd say. Okay. I have just one more strictly question for you. Okay. This is a big one. Before you would go on stage and perform, Is there any ritual, anything that you would always do before you got on stage? So we got three things. So here we come on and then we did bread, so that's number one ritual moment.

21:00We had this song, it's like, Bella Cha, Bella Cha, Bella Cha, that one. You do that every time. Yes. And then the other moment is where we, it's where I quite do cuddle me and tells me I put it on my side like this and I love it so much my firefly, my butterfly, my cheeky so-so. And the other one is, I'm going to tell you a bit where we do, believe in more. I'm going to dance. Yes, yes. So then, Ellie, through this, Strictly was hard, right? But you got through it. Yeah. What advice would you give to people who feel like what they're doing is very hard and they don't know if they can get through it?

21:56What would you tell them to do? Be confident, one of the knocks and dreams. Be happy. I don't remember if it is a big confident. Okay. All right. I'm done. I'm done there. because it's one of those where this is something that we all face. I think we all go to a place, maybe it's a job, maybe it's an event, and we don't feel like we can do it. Yeah. And I think that you inspired many people. Yeah. And they now believe they can do it. Mm-hmm. Right. All right, all right. So what's going on? Surprise! Oh, my gosh, those are Aura Frames. Yeah. Our new sponsor. Yeah. Yes. It's a gift for you. We have had an incredible year and we need to talk and we just wanted to get you something for the team.

22:41Wait, wait, wait, but Kaz, we celebrated a year a month ago. Yeah, I know, we're a bit late, but we wanted to make sure it was really special, so. All right, thanks, let me check it out. Let's see here. All right, all right. It's here. Oh my gosh, look at this. Look at all these cool photos. Remember, not here, Lou. They're brilliant. You can put like as many photos and videos as unlimited as you want on it. And they have this app, which makes it so easy to get photos straight from your phone to the frame, whenever you want. This is so good. You know what? We made so many incredible memories here.

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25:13Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. So with modeling, here's where I'd love to begin is, what project did you feel like you were officially a model? I think I'd say. Okay, all right. So what did you do for Adidas? So if I contract for having a year. Well, a year. I'm possible because I think it's impossible. Okay, that's part of the campaign. In South Bank, right, it was inspired the next generation of changemakers. So what was set up in South Bank? My statue. Your statue. My statue. You had a statue. Yes. But it was with other athletes and Olympians.

26:06I did this post. Yeah, it was so clever how they made the statue. It was made out of... Platic. Yeah, apparently. Okay. So you went and visited the statue? Yeah, yeah. We went, obviously, like, she had it all made, and it was very clever how they captured her to 400 cameras at different angles. Yeah, mind-blowing, wasn't it? What came before? Because didn't Gucci come before? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it was for a new mascara that they were bringing out. Le Obscure. That's it. Le Obscure. And he doesn't forget anything. And, yeah, it just seemed like a normal shoot. A normal day. Yeah, and then, there you are.

26:50Then the Eliza Agency spoke to me and said, be prepared for what's going to happen. and I said what's going to happen and she said just be prepared and this was launched and yeah the newspapers were phoning you had interviews so this this photo on Gucci's Instagram received 850 ,000 likes wow which was 10 times the number of Gucci's average post yeah Yeah, yeah. What do you believe it was about this photo and you that created that much attention for Gucci? I think the dress gave it all. The dress is a 10 out of 10. Did they give you that dress? No, but it took me. It was very high. I got a bit tight.

27:44I just think the whole world was in shock that a company like Gucci used someone like Ellie. That's what I personally think. And it woke the world up to realise that, you know, there is, there can be inclusivity in the world. And yeah, just that picture was like in every country and it went viral everywhere. Oh, yeah. Vogue Italia. Ellie's Instagram, like literally overnight, went from a few hundred, 400 followers to like 15 ,000. Oh my goodness. It was a night. It was like, it was completely crazy. What were the, I'm sure you were receiving messages. What were those messages? They were, I both were on fleek, I love the eyelashes.

28:32The eyebrows got on. Yeah, but I both did. On fleek, yeah. On fleek. It just changed Ellie's career. Yeah, you knew it. So at that point, you were in a modeling agency, right? So this is, is it Zebedee? Zebedee. Zebedee Management. So this, from what I understand, is an agency committed to representing models with disabilities and alternative appearances. So Ellie was literally their first client, and she's still with them. Really? I am. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. We've got a very amazing relationship with the two girls who run it, Zoe and Laura and all the staff. The day that Ellie first went for that very first shoot, they said, you know, she's got such potential, her personality and her character, and they just knew and they believed in her.

29:31Because we'd sort of gone to other agencies previous, sent pictures. Ellie saw a few people, but we never heard back. interesting yeah like wonder why yeah oh my god and so yeah when they we heard that they were opening and we were obviously i was caught on the phone to get her to have a get me jay jant yes um and it all went from there it did you've modeled for glamour magazine yes sports direct Yeah. Avon, Amazon, Primark, Marie Claire, Body Shop, Boots, Spotify. Oh my God! All of these. Victoria's secrets. Yeah. Got to be in Barcelona. We went to Bernadette Barcelona this year for Schwarzkopf.

30:27That was just before Strictly we were in Barcelona. But this is, I think that this needs just a, you know, a space of you are a bona fide international. Yeah, it's got eight magazine covers, I think. Eight. Eight magazine covers. Yeah. We have all these moments that are happening in your modeling career. now there's one in particular that seems to be perhaps the most i think talked about at least publicly okay and that is this you could probably guess yeah no what do you think i don't know oh no what else what else most i think i believe this is most talked about you tell me what you think Oh, Vogue.