22 February 2025
Sarah Hadland almost quit the 'Strictly Come Dancing' live tour.
Sarah Hadland nearly quit the 'Strictly Come Dancing' tour when her dance partner Vito Coppola left due to a back injury
The 'Miranda' star, 53, broke down and had a "wobble" after her dance partner Vito Coppola was forced to quit the run in January after just one show after suffering a back injury.
Although Sarah continued with Nikita Kuzmin, she has admitted she considered dropping out because she didn’t think she could go on without him.
She told Metro: “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.’”
Thankfully, she was soon able to build a rapport with Nikita.
She continued: “But then I began a relationship with Nikita, he started coaching me and we made the routines our 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.”
Although she missed out on lifting the Glitterball Trophy on the BBC One Latin and Ballroom contest, the 2024 finalist gained a “special friend for life” in Vito.
She said: “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.”
English (US) ·