Ellie Simmonds of Strictly Come Dancing has released an Instagram dump of her exploits since divorcing from her childhood boyfriend.
After apparently splitting from her partner Matt Dean, the Paralympian, 28, has been staying busy with appearances on Lorraine and a Miriam Margolyes talk, among other things.
She shared with her 177k followers on social media about her ‘jam-packed’ October, which began with the Pride of Britain Awards red carpet, a night that left her in ‘awe’ at the nation’s fortitude.
She also took a ‘whistle stop’ trip to Cannes for the TV industry event MIPCOM and went camping in the Forest of Dean for her ‘favourite’ guy Billy’s birthday.
The BBC personality certainly caught the camping bug, as she went ‘back to basics’ and spent several nights in a tent in Egypt’s Ras Muhammad National Park.
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Ellie also attended the Just Giving Awards, where she met Strictly Come Dancing‘s Neil Jones and snowboarders Aimee Fuller, and she had a ‘ball of fun’ on CBBC’s Saturday Mash Up.
Ellie also teased a forthcoming TV commercial and uploaded a video of herself dancing behind the scenes, so it’s safe to say she’s had a busy month.
It comes after Ellie and Matt, who met when they were children, allegedly split up in the summer.
‘Ellie and Matt have sadly split but it was amicable on both sides and there remains a lot of love there,’ a source has said.
‘They preferred to keep their relationship out of the public eye and it was the same with the break up, but both are doing OK,’ they added when speaking to The Sun.
Ellie and Matt bought a property together last year after Ellie retired from professional athletics in 2021 after 13 years of Olympic competition.
Around the same time, Ellie shared she would ‘like to have children in the future’.
Matt was frequently seen in the audience cheering on Ellie as she competed on Strictly last year, where she was teamed with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin.
The couple made it to the seventh week of the tournament before being eliminated.
Ellie attributed her decision to compete in the BBC ballroom show to Matt’s encouragement.
‘I was like shall I, shall I not. Then I spoke to my other half Matt, and he was like “go for it Ellie, take that leap of faith, you don’t know unless you try”,’ she told The Sun.
‘Now I’m so happy I said yes. As soon as I did we were bouncing around the kitchen like yay! Like little buzzing bees.’
She went on to laugh off talk of the so-called Strictly curse, sharing: ‘It’s just about dancing isn’t it and having fun. Yes you’re close with [your dance partner] and you get to know them and they’re so funny.
‘But no, it’s just amazing to be part of it.’
