Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola's 'shrill' swipe at Sarah Hadland as he 'takes his revenge'

Over the past 20 years, Strictly Come Dancing has become a key part of the run-up to Christmas, with tens of thousands of superfans watching every rumba, samba, and cha-cha cha. But not every Strictly fan will be watching – because a select few will be taking part.

Miranda star Sarah Hadland says that appearing on the show is “everything she could possibly have dreamed of” and she’s thrilled to be working with professional dance partner Vito Coppola. But, she revealed to Yours Magazine, Vito can do a wicked impression of her.

Sarah started it, she admits, with a playful imitation of Vito’s Italian accent: “He’ll say ‘What are you doing? I don’t talk like this.’ But now he’s taking his revenge by doing a very good impression of me – which is very nasal and shrill”

Sarah says that being part of Strictly is like being in a “parallel universe,” with the show’s expert hair and makeup team making her feel like a superstar: “You go into make-up looking like you’ve been right through a hedge, and you leave and you look like you had a non-surgical facelift and a hair transplant.”

It’s not just surface appearances that have been transformed by the show, Sarah adds. She says that the gruelling rehearsals have taken for fitness to an incredible level: “I do gym workouts and I do like running – I used to run the London Marathon – but this is completely different.”

She says that the level of fitness required for Strictly is on an entirely different level: “Obviously the dance is only a minute and a half long, so you have to have a real burst of energy, but if you were running or working out you’d be huffing and puffing.”

On Strictly’s live shows, Sarah explains, everything has to look effortless, no matter how hard she’s working beneath the all the glitter.

Sarah says the name of the glitter ball trophy winner is still anyone’s guess: “If I was not in the show, I’d be with my multiple WhatsApp groups, and there’d be a lot of discussion.

“It’s quite divisive,” she adds “It’s never straightforward, and I know that what the judges thinks often irrelevant when it comes to the fans.”

Sarah and Vito will be dancing on Strictly again tonight (Saturday, November 30) at 7.05pm on BBC One.