Yahoo News Fury wants to be role model as first ever deaf Gladiator
The TV star grew up being a big fan of the sports entertainment show
Watch: Gladiators' Fury reveals she would love to be role model for others who are deaf
What did you miss?
Gladiators’ Fury has told how she wants to be a great role model as the show’s first deaf star.
The rugby player – whose real name is Jodie Ounsley – had made history by becoming the first deaf Gladiator on the show, which has been rebooted by the BBC after it was a massive hit for ITV in the 90s. Fury has been deaf since she was little and when she was 14-months-old she became the youngest person in the country to have a cochlear implant.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine she said that she wanted to “show little kids that you can be powerful, you can be strong, you can be bad a**, but you can also be deaf whilst doing it”.
What, how, and why?
Talking about landing her role on the sports entertainment show, she said: “It honestly means the world. It’s such an honour, being a big fan of Gladiators growing up. But then being deaf and growing up and not seeing many deaf role models and now to have that opportunity, it means the world.”
Fury, whose dad was a contender on Gladiators in the show’s original run, went on: “Even since I have been young, I always wanted to be a good person, be a good athlete and now with the position that I am in I’m very honoured to have that opportunity." "I just want to be a good role model," she added.
The TV star said that the response she’d had from viewers so far had been really “heartwarming”. “I saw the other day a video of a little eight-year-old girl showing her muscles, like her little biceps, saying she was strong like Fury and she had cochlear implants as well," she said.
"I just love seeing that because I am so passionate about it. I just want to show that it is possible.”
What else did Fury say?
Fury said so far she was loving her stint on Gladiators and that it played into her competitive nature. She said: “I see it as like a World Cup rugby final… I am so competitive and obviously the contenders as well, they come at us hard. Yeah, it’s such a great atmosphere.”
