Strictly Come Dancing's Sarah Hadland has 'eye on another star' as Vito Coppola dealt blow
Vito Coppola has been recovering from an injury to his lower back that has forced him to miss shows on the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour. The latest show took place in Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena yesterday, with a second show taking place this evening.
During the show yesterday, host Janette Manrara confirmed Vito hasn't recovered in time to take to the dancefloor as she revealed his replacement at the start of the show. She said: "For the first time in Strictly tour history, we have a throuple. As you can see, we're missing Vito. He's unable to dance tonight so Nikita has very kindly stepped in."
They scored 79/80 for their two performances and were praised by the judges. Shirley Ballas said: "I think Sarah won't mind me sharing this, but, at the very beginning at our launch show, seven weeks in. Sarah was very nervous about dancing on her own without having Vito there.
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"You didn't want to do it, you were quite adamant and now Motsi and I were saying, we look at you fronting the whole number and that's why we're so proud of our show, because it produces great dancers like you."
It Takes Two host, Janette asked a question: "You danced on the show with Vito and now you've danced with Nikita. I saw you dancing with Jake over there. Are you making you way through the whole cast on this tour?"
Sarah responded "I also danced with Neil on this show. I have to say all the dancers have been incredible but can I just give a shoutout to Nikita because he's been incredible.
"But there's a dancer I've got my eye on Janette and it's your husband." Janette left crowd in stitches as she pulled an unimpressed face and shot back: "Sarah, I've been with him for 12 years and it's not what you think."
The actress and Italian dance partner Vito Coppola finished in second place on Strictly Come Dancing in 2024. Sarah and Vito's total score was 118 out of a possible 120 points, although the winner was ultimately decided by the public vote with Dianne Buswell and Chris McCausland winning the competition.