Strictly Come Dancing star reveals moment they almost quit after devastating ‘wobble’
They were in tears.
Strictly Come Dancing star Sarah Hadland has revealed she almost quit the live tour after a devastating ‘wobble’.
The Miranda actress, 53, made it to the final of the BBC One competition alongside pro partner Vito Coppola, missing out on the glitterball trophy to Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell.
She joined fellow finalists Tasha Ghouri and JLS singer JB Gill on the annual tour around the country after the live shows, however, was dealt heartbreaking news after just days.
Not long after Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans was axed from the same live tour for an ‘inappropriate’ comment, Vito, 32, revealed he had to sit the remaining performances out due to back pain.
He announced the news with an emotional post about Sarah, saying his time dancing with her had been ‘super beautiful and memorable’.
‘I promised you that I will take more care of me and my body and I want you to promise me that you will always stay the same enthusiastic, super active, smiling and jumpy person I have met a few months ago, before this incredible experience started… keep shining Trilly, you are full of life,’ he said in a heartfelt caption.
Sarah made it to the final with Vito Coppola (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire) Vito was heartbreakingly forced to pull out of the tour (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Up Next
Previous Page Next PageSarah, who went on to dance with Celebrity Big Brother star Nikita Kuzmin, has now revealed she was close to quitting after Vito’s news.
In an interview with Metro, she said: ‘I don’t know who was more upset, me or him, we were both crying.
‘Because my trust definitely took a long time to build up and that was all Vito’s hard work, so yeah, I had a bit of a wobble and thought, “I don’t think I can do this tour if it’s not with Vito”.’
She went on: ‘But then I began a relationship with Nikita, he started coaching me and we made the routines are own, and very quickly you build that trust again.
‘I think because of the groundwork Vito put in with me and the journey I’d had, I transferred that trust to Nikita, and I feel very, very lucky, I had a second go and had a second Strictly experience, so I feel very, very lucky to have had the experience I did.’
Sarah finished the tour with Nikita Kuzmin (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock) She recalled her incredible experience with both pro partners (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)During her time on the show, Sarah inspired thousands of women around the nation to take up dancing and even learnt she’d been limiting herself beforehand.
‘I have set limits on myself and I didn’t realise that until I did Strictly. I am somebody that’s very out there, thinking I can do anything, and actually I was the one in my head saying, “I can’t do that.”
‘Vito would suggest something and I would say, “I can’t do that, I’m not doing it,” and I was saying that like it was a fact, and it really, quite shockingly, made me think that sometimes you think society is going, “Oh, you’re a woman, you’re 53, you’re a parent, you can’t be doing lifts over somebody’s head”.
‘And actually, it was me saying it, and that was quite shocking and a bit upsetting because I thought, why am I saying I can’t do that? Where has that come from? It really made me readdress it, because Vito was saying, “You absolutely can and you will,” in a lovely way… and he was right!
‘So it really was quite a sobering moment of thinking, what’s happened that I have started to set the limits? And it’s changed the way that I think about myself in terms of going, you can and you will, and that’s that.’
Sarah learnt she’d been setting limits on herself (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock) ‘Vito was saying, “You absolutely can and you will,” in a lovely way… and he was right!’ (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy)Talking about her experience on Strictly as a whole, she went on: ‘To be completely honest, I was very, very lucky because I’ve got to have the whole Strictly experience with Vito because I went right to the final which I never imagined would happen.
‘People kept saying to me, “if you come out sooner than the end, it’s very hard, because you feel like it’s a traveling circus that keeps going and you’re part of it”.
‘So I mean, I was very lucky that I got to go to the end, and then it was Christmas, and then it was the tour, and I was dancing with Nikita because Vito had hurt is back so it felt like I had a second Strictly journey, and then that’s only just finished, and I’ve been working non-stop since it finished.’
She added: ‘I miss Vito terribly, and Nikita! Because you build these amazing relationships, friendships, partnerships that are quite different to anything else I’ve ever experienced, because they’re so intense and you’re so reliant on your partner, but then that suddenly stops.
‘But Vito and I message and FaceTime all the time, so I feel like I’ve just gained a really special friend for life.’
‘I’ve just gained a really special friend for life,’ Sarah said (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire) The pair even dream to bring their friendship to Celebrity Gogglebox (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)Their friendship is so close in fact, they’re now planning to work on more projects together – much to the delight of fans who have already been loving their social media videos as they teach the other the language and culinary delights of each other’s cultures. (For Sarah, that meant spaghetti hoops on toast, leaving Vito ‘appalled’ and ‘distressed’.)
When asked if she’d go on another show with him, perhaps even Celebrity Race Across The World, Sarah revealed: ‘100%, we are talking to lots of people about things like that.’
‘The minute I met Vito, he said I was his spirit animal, and everybody saw I’ve got to have Vito.
‘It’s one of those things, a bit like when I met Miranda, something clicks instantly, and you just go, you’re my person.’
She added: ‘Vito and I are very similar, we’re both high energy, very full-on, and you need that match.’
‘Our dream is to do Celebrity Gogglebox,’ she laughed.
‘I definitely lucked out,’ Sarah said of her dance partner (Picture: PA Wire)Speaking of her close friendship with him from dancing on Strictly together, she said: ‘It’s the by-product that you don’t realise. You’re so busy working, you’re learning to dance and you pray your partnership is going to be a good one, and I definitely lucked out.’
Having just finished the Strictly tour, Sarah is putting her attention towards supporting Comic Relief, which she’s done for several years.
‘This is a charity that I’m a big, big support of, so I’m happy to do it,’ she said, recalling one memorable year in which she joined her Miranda co-stars as backing dancers for JLS.
‘That was pretty special, Miranda had to do the rap and we came out to be backing dancers and we absolutely loved it.’
They weren’t the only ones, with fans also loving reunions of the Miranda cast, even if there appears to be no reboot of the BBC sitcom on the cards.
Sarah’s thrown her support behind a Miranda revival (Picture: BBC)‘If Miranda wrote it, we’d all be there like a shot,’ Sarah told us. ‘It’s a traditional sitcom in terms of its slapstick, but it seems to me that people just love the warmth and the feel-good and that there’s no malice and it’s just the fact that we all feel like kids inside, we just act differently on the outside.
‘People just say it makes them feel kind of safe, it’s like a comfort blanket, and it’s just lovely. So I mean, I’m sure if she did do it, the reaction I still get from people on the street is that they would love it, so who knows, but if she did, we’d all be there like a shot.’
Talking about her support for Comic Relief, she went on: ‘You’re very, very fortunate if you can bring people’s awareness to that. I think you feel very privileged, and it’s very humbling to meet people in situations who are living incredibly difficult lives, and if you can help in any way, you feel very proud to be part of a country where we do help, and it’s so important.’
Comic Relief supporter Sarah Hadland is supporting the latest Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Norfolk in aid of the charity. Draw entries are available now at https://omaze.co.uk/pages/norfolk-ii. The Draw closes at midnight on Sunday, February 23 for online entries and Tuesday, February 25 for postal entries.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and iPlayer later this year.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
