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Jodie Ounsley
Jodie Ounsley helps organisations build resilience, accessibility, and inclusion, drawing on her rugby career, advocacy, and role as Fury on BBC Gladiators. The first deaf woman to play international rugby for England, she is also an award-nominated author.
Jodie Ounsley is an England rugby international and broadcaster, best known as Fury on BBC One's Gladiators. Born profoundly deaf, she made history in 2019 as the first deaf woman to play international rugby for England.
Jodie played for Loughborough Lightning, Sale Sharks, and Exeter Chiefs, earned a full-time England Sevens contract, and represented Great Britain. She has also competed at the Deaflympics, worked as an interviewer on Channel 4's coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, and written two award-nominated books, Keep Smashing It and Strong Girls.
Jodie received a cochlear implant at fourteen months and was discouraged from contact sport, so she wore a scrum cap and kept playing. Her experience of reaching elite level while profoundly deaf shows organisations where barriers sit and how to remove them. As an NSPCC and Elizabeth Foundation ambassador, and the voice of the audiologist in Peppa Pig, she brings deaf awareness to all ages.
Audiences leave with a clearer sense of how to turn setbacks into momentum, how to make teams and events accessible in practice, and why consistency matters more than raw talent. Jodie pairs her sporting story with practical steps that teams can act on straight away.
Book Jodie for a first-hand story of grit, visibility, and sporting achievement that resonates with audiences well beyond the pitch.
Topics, sessions and talks
Jodie Ounsley was born profoundly deaf, received a cochlear implant at fourteen months, and went on to become the first deaf woman to play international rugby for England. Jodie speaks openly about the barriers she met, from being discouraged from contact sport to adapting to life in the public eye as Fury on BBC Gladiators. Her candid account shows organisations what real accessibility looks like, with practical steps to make teams, workplaces, and events more inclusive.
Jodie Ounsley shares her experience as a bisexual woman building a career in elite rugby and on national television. She talks honestly about the struggles she faced and how she found happiness with her partner. From the rugby pitch to the Gladiators arena, Jodie explores why visibility matters and how teams can build cultures where people feel able to be themselves. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of what meaningful allyship looks like day to day.
Training is Jodie Ounsley's day job. From sessions with her dad to Deaflympics athletics, a British Brazilian jiu-jitsu title, and elite rugby with Loughborough Lightning, Sale Sharks, and Exeter Chiefs, she has spent her life building strength and fitness. Now competing as Fury on BBC Gladiators, Jodie shares the routines and mindset behind performing at the top level. Audiences come away with practical ways to build lasting healthy habits and a reminder that consistency matters more than raw talent.
Born profoundly deaf and warned that contact sport could put her cochlear implant at risk, Jodie Ounsley wore a scrum cap and kept playing. In 2019 she became the first deaf woman to play international rugby for England. Jodie traces her life story through the setbacks, scrutiny, and high-stakes moments that followed, from England Sevens to the Gladiators arena. Her account gives audiences a practical way to turn setbacks into momentum and stay composed when the pressure is highest.
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frequently asked questions
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Jodie Ounsley tells her story in the first person, from wearing a scrum cap to protect her cochlear implant to competing as Fury on Gladiators, and pairs it with practical guidance on accessibility and resilience.
Jodie Ounsley speaks on disability awareness and accessibility, LGBTQ+ inclusion, health and fitness, and dealing with pressure and adversity. She became the first deaf woman to play international rugby for England in 2019, going on to earn a full-time England Sevens contract before joining BBC One's Gladiators in 2024 as Fury.
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