England player Ellie Kildunne has claimed that she “sounded more like Ken than Barbie” after celebrating her team’s World Cup final victory over Canada in September.
Speaking to Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and Ruby Tui on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast, Kildunne recalled the days after the victory.
“We went to Cabbage Patch on the first night,” she said. “Second night, we went into London. And yeah, that was crazy mad.
“But you know what the girls kept saying to me, ‘Ellie, for you, you’re going quite light. You’re quite tame.’ But if I’m honest, I was so overwhelmed by everything that was going on that I couldn’t actually get drunk. I drank so much, but I just couldn’t get drunk.
“Then you had the 6 am breakfast show in the morning. So yeah, it was crazy.”
‘Hi, I’m a Barbie’
Following the initial celebrations, it was time for Ellie and her teammates to celebrate with the nation, but her voice simply wasn’t playing ball.
“I had a Barbie made of me, and I went to do the commercial appearance for it, and a few of the other girls are there, and you had to do this thing where you looked at the camera and say ‘Hi, I’m a Barbie’.
“Now, first of all, with a northern accent, it doesn’t sound as nice. But on top of that, I’d lost my voice from all the singing and shouting, so I sounded more like Ken than I did Barbie.”
Kildunne was one of four players who were a part of the “Team Barbie” campaign in October, when she joined Ilona Maher (USA), Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (New Zealand), and Nassira Konde (France) in being honoured. The drive is to inspire confidence in girls, and the dolls are set to be on sale in 2026.
State of the Nation: Rassie Erasmus left with ‘plenty to smile about’ as Springboks cement status as world’s best team
Three things to know about Ellie Kildunne
1 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominee
The England star has recently been shortlisted for the 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award following her blockbuster year with the Red Roses.
The full-back is the first-ever female rugby player to be up for the prestigious award and the first English rugby player to be nominated since Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson in 2007.
The 26-year-old has become a global name after consistently superb showings for club and country, with this nomination richly deserved for both her and the Red Roses.
2 She has a signature celebration
Her try celebrations involve her acting as a cowgirl, doing a lassoing motion and donning cowgirl hats after games, with fans also buying into it and wearing these in support of Kildunne and her teammates in the crowd.
3 She was diagnosed with ADHD in 2024
When asked to describe herself by the Guardian, she chose just one word, “chaos”. The flying full-back also admitted she’s the most likely England star to forget her boots.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
READ MORE: World Cup winner claims Henry Pollock is ‘misunderstood’ and reflects on meeting the ‘kid’
