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Strictly Come Dancing’s Sarah Hadland has admitted that she fancies her professional partner Vito Coppola.
The 53-year-old comedy actor, best known for playing the joke shop manager Stevie Sutton in the BBC sitcom Miranda, freely admitted to fancying the 32-year-old Italian ballroom dancer the minute they met.
“Yes, I fancied him. I’m alive, aren’t I?” she replied when asked if she found him attractive. “If you’re female and have a heartbeat, how could he NOT be anybody’s type?”
This week the pair will perform a heated paso doble to “Freed From Desire” by Gala.
Speaking about the choreography for Saturday night’s routine, Hadland told The Sun: “The paso doble we’re doing this week is very serious and sensual, and when we started learning it I was very, very giggly.
She continued: “There’s a lot of groin to thigh, and I have to look deep into his eyes — which make it ten times worse.”
However, Hadland said that she wouldn’t fall victim to the “Strictly Curse”, where contestants and celebrity partners fall for each other and sometimes jeopardise the relationship they’re in when they sign up, because she doesn’t have the “energy” for an affair.
“I’ll be honest – I can either do the dance or have an affair, but I can’t do both. I’m committed to the dance now.”
Hadland added that nothing in her acting career had prepared her for how intimate the Strictly experience would be.
“As an actor, you do get to be very up close with people, but with Strictly it’s another level. You have to be so close. I’m going to be honest, though — it’s not hard. Or rather, should we say, it’s not difficult. Let’s go with that,” she explained.
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Sarah also joked that Vito was “the cherry on the cake” to her Strictly experience.
“I’ve been a superfan of Strictly since it began. It’s incredible — everything, the costume . . . then Vito is the cherry on the cake!”
Last week, the pair received a score of 30 for her Quickstep to “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton – the highest mark a Quickstep has ever received in week one of the competition.
Speaking to The Independent in a recent interview, the actor revealed that her pro partner already has a nickname for her – Trilli, which is Hadland “is the Italian word for Tinkerbell”.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
