Love Island welcomes first-ever deaf contestant as 2022 lineup is announced
Love Island contestant Tasha Ghouri is the dating show's first deaf islander and has said she's "proud to represent her community".
Love Island contestant Tasha Ghouri is joining this year's line-up and will be the ITV dating show's first-ever deaf contestant.
Tasha Ghouri is a 23-year-old dancer and wears a cochlear implant, something that she frequently talks about on her social media in order to raise awareness of deafness.
In addition to her dancing, she has also done modeling work for ASOS and Boux Avenue and joins the likes of Liam Llewellyn, Indiyah Polack and Dami Hope for Love Island 2022.
Announcing the news, Tasha shared a post that read: "AHHH! The cats out the bag and this cat is on Love Island searching for the one! @loveisland
"Will our Tasha find her dance partner or will they have two left feet? Only one way to find out! 💞🏝⚡️"
A post shared by Tasha Amber Ghouri (@tashaghouri)
A photo posted by on
Talking about why she wanted to take part, Tasha Ghouri said: "My dating life has been a shambles. This is an opportunity for me to find 'the one' and have a great summer at the same time.
"I'm definitely ready for a relationship. I'm 23 now, so I'm ready to get to know someone, go on holidays, and travel with them"
She also spoke about how her friends would describe her, adding: "They would definitely describe me as wild. I can get very wild on a night out, I’m definitely a party animal. I love my prosecco and to have a dance, I’m always on the dance floor.
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"I’m very loyal to my friends and family, I’ll always have their backs. I’m the type of person to put others before me. They would definitely say I’m a nap queen, I love napping!"
In addition to this, Tasha described herself as "inspirational" due to her deaf awareness, saying: "I think they’d also say I’m inspirational because of my hearing and my cochlear implant. I inspire quite a lot of people because I’m really open about it."
Tasha is following in the footsteps of Rose Ayling-Ellis who was the first deaf contestant to take part in BBC's Strictly Come Dancing where she won alongside pro partner Giovanni Pernice.
The EastEnders star won a BAFTA for the must-see moment as a result of her powerful performance and recently participated in CBeebies Bedtime Stories.
Love Island starts on ITV2 on Monday, 6 June. For full listings - see our TV Guide.
Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.
She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress!