Ellie Simmonds shares negative experience with Olympics team member amid Strictly scandal

Express.co.uk exclusively spoke to Ellie Simmonds about the struggles she faced during the Paralympics, leading to her decision to exit competitive sport aged just 21.

The swimming ace - now a BAFTA-winning documentary film maker and TV presenter - also revealed that her intense training routine in her younger years had led her to miss out on "growing up". "I was growing up in [professional] sport and in the spotlight and feeling the pressure... I was just burnt out," she explained.

"We had an individual on the team who was not the nicest and treated us not in a nice way. That's why I took the decision afterwards to take a year out from the sport," Ellie continued. "I was lucky that I could make that decision - but career changes, or just saying no to things, is okay - to look after your mental health and look after yourself."

Instead of agonising over it, she opted to take a break from the difficult and pressurised workplace environment - and ended up having "the best year that I've ever had". She used the time to go travelling everywhere from diverse places in the UK to the picturesque island of Madagascar, where she went without any phone signal for an entire 24 hours.

The digital detox helped her to pause, focus on "the beautiful world that we live in" and "find that confidence of being okay on my own" while doing so. Though she travelled solo, she wasn't lonely for a second, and ended up "making friends all around the world".

Ellie can't relate to the traumatic Strictly experience that contestants like Sherlock's Amanda Abbington and Love Island's Zara McDermott have reported, as she had a perfect partnership with her pro dance partner, Nikita Kuzmin.

The pair had pep talks where he advised her to convert her nerves into "adrenaline" and, instead of feeling anxious, enjoy her experience onstage.

She was also able to tap into the skills she'd learnt as a competitive athlete "to help manage the pressure that I had every Saturday night" while dancing in front of millions of TV viewers.

Since her permanent retirement from sport after the Tokyo Olympics and her decision to go into TV fulltime instead, Ellie feels the pressure is off - something she especially notices when reporting on events like the Olympic Games as a presenter.

"I'm going to have the easy job in a sense now. I can just talk about the sport, whereas I know a lot of the athletes give their life for their sport and it's a lot of sacrifice and dedication during the games," she explained.

"I know the nerves that I felt and the pressure that I felt [before], so it's going to be nice to not be competing and just be there to experience the Olympics and Paralympics from a different point of view."

Meanwhile, finding her "balance" in this next chapter of life is ongoing - and she's been practising self-care through exercise, moderation of how much time she spends on social media and adding supplements to her diet.

She's currently working with a company called Bioglan on a campaign to look after herself physically as well as honing her mental strength.

Ellie Simmonds has partnered with supplement brand Bioglan for their third series of ‘In Bioglan Balance’ to show how she finds balance in her busy life. To watch the series, visit @bioglansupplements on Instagram.