The pair met on Love Island (Image: Instagram/@tashaghouri)You don’t need to be a Love Island fan to know that Tasha Ghouri has been making waves since she appeared on the hit reality show in 2022. The first ever deaf contestant to appear on the ITV dating series has steered clear of fast fashion and short-lived brand deals and is using her profile to raise awareness for the deaf community. TV viewers who didn’t know her before have now fallen in love with the star’s sunny persona as she takes part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with returning pro Aljaz Skorjanec. Here, OK! takes a look back at our interview with Tasha from earlier this year, before Strictly came knocking at her door…
Strictly Come Dancing’s Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec
(Image: BBC)
During Deaf Awareness Week this week, dancer and model Tasha is highlighting the representation of disabilities in all forms on our screens. Tasha, 25, looks completely at home in front of the cameras as she poses for our shoot, but says such internal ease has only come to her recently as she has gained maturity since she first appeared on our screens. “I know what I want to do. I know my worth now,” she says. She is still loved-up with her Love Island boyfriend Andrew Le Page, 29, and the couple are renovating their home. There is talk of a diamond ring (no pressure, Andrew, but Tasha has a specific style in mind!) and we wonder how long it will be until their spare room has a change of purpose… Here, she talks about dealing with relationship pressures, swerving fast fashion, using her growing platform for good – and shares some top beauty tips.
Tasha has become more aware of her shopping habits since partnering with eBay
(Image: Catherine Hack)
Shop Tasha’s look: Shirt, River Island, £25 here, blazer, skirt and heels, Primark, shop in your local store. Hello, Tasha. We love that you’re making your own path after Love Island. How hard was it to not be tempted into fast fashion deals? To be 100% honest, I did wear a lot of fast fashion before Love Island. But then with eBay as the sponsor of my series, it really made me more aware of my shopping habits. Coming out of the villa and now working with them as a partner, I went through my whole wardrobe and bin-bagged everything that was fast fashion and gave it all to charity. That was my reset. How do you think you’ve changed since we watched you find love? I think mostly in maturity. I’ve definitely found myself deep down, who I really am. I feel more at ease now, more settled. I know my worth and I think that’s a big one, especially in this industry. You need to know who you are and really stick with it. Has your personal style changed as well? I really love pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying different make-up and hair looks these days – that’s one way that you grow more as a person. I’ve changed completely since leaving the show, but in the best ways possible. Can you tell us your favourite beauty products from your make-up bag? Ooh, I’m loving L’Oréal Paris Lumi Glotion. Back in the day, it was my go-to. Now they’ve brought it back and I’m buzzing – it gives a perfect summer glow. Also L’Oréal Paris Panorama Mascara gives a perfect cat-eye look. I always use REFY products for brows because I love a fluffy style, and my go-to lip gloss is Fenty Gloss Bomb. For lip colour, I really love Patrick Ta.
Some of Tasha’s favourite beauty products include the L’Oréal Paris Lumi Glotion and the popular Fenty Gloss Bomb
(Image: Catherine Hack)
Shop Tasha’s look: Dress, Karen Millen, currently £169.15 here Are you a “less is more” girl when it comes to beauty? I don’t like being caked in make-up. I like to showcase my freckles and the natural beauty of my face sometimes. I play around with make-up for award shows and events, but I’m a natural girl at heart. You’re keen to chat about Deaf Awareness Week. What are you hoping to focus the spotlight on? I’d love to see more representation on TV as a whole. We’re definitely taking a step in the right direction, but I think it’s still not quite there – it still feels like box-ticking. I want to continue that momentum by questioning why we can’t have, say, two deaf people on a show, or more than one person in a wheelchair. It’s about making inclusivity not a surprise. Do you think we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of deaf representation? It’s amazing that we’ve got me and Rose [Ayling-Ellis], and to have our voices. It feels like it’s slowly getting there, but I think we just need more representation as a whole, not just for the deaf community, but all of the disabled community. My dream is to watch Love Island one day and see just a completely diverse and inclusive mix of people. We hear you’ve been working on something exciting to do with schools… Yes – I worked with the Department for Education to get British Sign Language introduced into schools as a GCSE choice, and it’s super exciting. I hope that people will take this opportunity to learn sign language and to make deaf people feel more included in conversations. I wish that I had the option back at school, because I had to stop using BSL and I was forced into using speech around people.
Tasha is working on getting British Sign Language introduced into schools as a GCSE choice
(Image: Catherine Hack)
Shop Tasha’s look: Blazer, Phase Eight, currently £95.20 here; shirt, Reserved, £29.99 here; flower corsage, New Look, £5.99 here and gemstone ring, Yaa Yaa London, currently £34 here. You wear a cochlear implant now to help you hear, but you took it out for a video to show your deaf accent. Tell us about that… When I first came off Love Island, I wasn’t ready to show that side of me just yet. But I was on a trip recently and I was about to put my cochlear implant in to film something when I would naturally keep it out and I thought, ‘It’s time to stop doing that and embrace the real me.’ Seeing the response to the video was amazing, and the more the deaf accent gets talked about, the more people feel seen and heard. You and Andrew are still loved-up – what’s the secret of your success as a couple? I always say communication. Coming off a show like that, you get things thrown at you left, right, and centre. You get opinions and you have to deal with whole career changes. With me and Andrew, we have always communicated. We just gel. We’re not really argumentative people, but if we do argue, we get it sorted straightaway. We never go to sleep on a bad note. Did you know he was a keeper from the get-go? Yes, it clicked in one of the challenges when we had to look after the fake baby, and then after we left the villa we just grew so close and we got to know each other on a deeper level. It’s so nice because now I look at him and I know I’m going to marry him. There’s no one else that I’m going to marry. He is genuinely my soulmate. Would you trust him to pick out a ring for you? I feel like he does know what I like. We’ve spoken about what kind of ring I’d like already, and he knows that I’m quite unique. He knows I wouldn’t go for something that everyone else has.
Tasha and Andrew have just bought their first home together and are currently renovating the property
(Image: Catherine Hack)
Shop Tasha’s look: Cardigan, Sister Jane, £79 here; shirt, River Island, £38 here and trousers, Reserved, £29.99 here What’s the next step for you and Andrew, then? Well, we’ve just bought our first home. It’s actually a renovation project. We saw the potential for what it could be, especially as Andrew wants to go more into property development. He supported me this past year-and-a-half, watching me do my career and watching me grow. It’s now his time to shine – I’m here to support him in every single way. Are marriage and kids on the cards? We’ll get to marriage and kids, but we’re not in a rush. We’re living in the moment and when it happens, it happens. And what’s next for you in your career – anything you want to tick off before you turn 30? I’d definitely like to tick off having my own clothing brand. I’m so passionate about fashion. I’d also love to tick off Strictly – that would be a really good opportunity to put myself outside my comfort zone. I’d also like to go into more of a hosting role on TV. Did we hear you’re releasing a book? Yes. Hits Different. It’s available to pre-order now and it comes out on 6 June. It’s co-authored with Lizzie Huxley-Jones and it’s a perfect summer read. It’s got elements of my experience, as the main character is deaf and a dancer. She goes to Ibiza on a journey to find herself, and a boy called Levi comes in and he’s the dream. There are elements of Andrew in there. It’s educational too, you learn about cochlear implants.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterMore OnLove IslandTasha GhouriFashionBeautyShopping
