Vito Coppola has been to Ellie Leach’s mother and father’ home for tea

This is an attention-grabbing twist on the concept of introducing a good-looking younger man to your mother and father. Strictly contestant Ellie Leach has been bringing her dance accomplice again to her mum and pa’s for dinner. And it is happening a storm.

‘He’s turn out to be a part of the household. They love him and he loves my mum’s gravy,’ she reveals. Pardon? ‘My mum cooked a beef stew — simply an atypical beef stew, nothing particular I believed, however he beloved it, so each time he comes for tea, he asks ‘will there be gravy?’ ‘

‘He’, in fact, is Vito Coppola, 31, the Strictly professional sweeping Ellie off her toes and the person serving to her to, as she tells me poignantly, ‘discover my very own persona’.

His Mediterranean heritage could make him an unlikely fan of conventional British fare however then they’re certainly one of Strictly’s extra fascinating pairings. The former Coronation Street actress is simply 22, a self-confessed ‘homebody’ from Manchester, who nonetheless lives together with her mother and father and, though she’s been performing since she was 9, comes throughout as shy.

He is the Italian stallion, an 11-time Latin American champion who’s one thing of a heart-throb. He and his pop star accomplice on the Italian model of Strictly turned an merchandise in actual life, though the connection was over by the point he moved to the UK.

Vito is an everything-out-there form of man. His followers have joked that his chest hair ought to have its personal social media account. His worship of Ellie is as flamboyantly displayed as his flamenco swagger. He calls her ‘my child’, ‘my Lulu’, and ‘a diamond’.

At the tip of their off-the-scale horny Argentine tango final week, when viewers thought they had been going to fall on one another (and never in a ‘whoops!’ approach), he defined how he acquired this candy lass to unleash her inside tiger.

‘There is a ball of fireplace between us and I stated: ‘Look at me and eat me along with your eyes,’ ‘ he advised startled co-host Claudia Winkleman, who could by no means get better.

Viewers beloved it. And guess what? Ellie appears to find it irresistible, too.

‘Vito is wild,’ she tells me, laughing. ‘But that is what makes each single day such enjoyable. I’d by no means completed something like this earlier than, however he is such an excellent trainer and nice human that he offers me the arrogance. Vito has inspired me to come back out of my consolation zone.’

She tries to clarify how he will get her within the different zone. ‘We do deep breaths earlier than we exit in order that I neglect concerning the judges and the viewers, and it is simply Vito and me on the dance flooring.’

Ellie and Vito had been a pair to look at proper from the beginning, however the sizzle issue between them wasn’t essentially the factor that viewers initially discovered fascinating — it was the humour. While Vito speaks 4 languages (Italian, English, Russian and Spanish) his command of English has led to some moments the place the pair have collapsed laughing due to miscommunication.

There was the time he introduced a ‘lula hoop’ to assist together with her hip motion. Funnier nonetheless was the second when she, draped over his shoulders in ungainly trend, advised him that she thought she was going to fall. He misunderstood her Manchester accent, thought she stated ‘fart’ and put her down in a short time. She continues to be laughing about that one right now.

‘I do not assume I’ve had a lot enjoyable. Every day we simply giggle.’

Now they’re the bookies’ favourites to carry the glitterball trophy, which maybe reveals how profitable, and multi-layered, their chemistry is.

There actually is just one query followers of the present need answered, in fact. Are they a pair in actual life? There have been rumours and — dammit — Ellie is in no rush to verify them right now.

‘There is at all times hypothesis concerning the {couples} on Strictly,’ she says coyly. ‘But truthfully we’re simply so busy dancing.’

No you aren’t! You’ve simply stated he comes spherical for tea! What do your mother and father make of him? ‘They completely love him coming spherical and so do I.’ I moderately like the concept that he whisks her off to the salsa bars of Manchester each evening — however he is not doing that both.

But nobody might begrudge Ellie some glamour after the yr she’s had: shedding her job and splitting from her long-term accomplice. She would not come from a showbiz household — her mother and father each have ‘regular’ jobs — however she went to drama classes when she was a toddler as a result of she was painfully shy. ‘My mum thought it will give me confidence and I simply beloved it.’

After just a few adverts, in 2009, when she was eight, she gained her first movie function, in A Boy Called Dad. The following yr she auditioned for Corrie. She would go on to play Faye Windass for 12 years.

Everything occurred to Faye and none of it glamorous and sparkly. She had a heroin addict mom, was adopted, fell pregnant at 12, ended up in jail for attacking the fallacious particular person and had an early menopause.

Ellie threw her coronary heart into the function and wowed audiences together with her portrayal of some harrowing storylines, however the dream job got here to an finish earlier this yr when her character was written out.

Today, good lady that she is, she speaks very warmly of her time on the cleaning soap, which is famously protecting of its younger stars. ‘It actually is sort of a household,’ she says. ‘You get a tutor on set and you actually are taken care of.’ It’s nonetheless an odd atmosphere to develop up in, certainly? ‘It’s like a bubble,’ she agrees. ‘I form of grew up round adults. You are conscious you’re a skilled, as a lot as you’re a child, so that you do develop up a bit sooner.’

She admits that shedding that function was terrifying ‘as a result of it’s scary leaving someplace you’ve gotten been for a very long time’, however now ‘I do assume issues occur for a cause’.

Ditto together with her personal life. For the final 5 years of her time on the cleaning soap she had a gradual boyfriend, Reagan Pettman, a dancer, however they break up up across the identical time as she exited Corrie.

She has stated beforehand that he had cheated on her. She would not need to go into particulars right now, but it surely’s clear it was a turbulent time.

And then — drum roll, please — got here Strictly. And Vito. Let’s simply say it couldn’t have occurred at a greater time.

‘I used to be so prepared for all of it — the sequins, the ruffles, the tassels. I used to be like: ‘I’ll take all of it.’ It was nerve-racking although as a result of for the primary time I wasn’t performing a personality, this was about me, about discovering my very own persona.’ The emphasis is usually placed on how the our bodies of Strictly contestants change.

Ellie has dropped just a few costume sizes however the greater distinction is inner. ‘It’s loopy how every little thing has modified. I do not just like the phrase ‘journey’ that folks use when they’re speaking about Strictly, however there is not a greater one as a result of it is true. Mine has been a rollercoaster and I’m shocked at the way it has affected my complete life. I even stand in another way.

‘I’ll be ready for a espresso or one thing and realise I’m holding myself extra ‘up’. But I’m additionally changing into extra resilient. I feel extra when it comes to, ‘OK, I can do that’ and never, ‘I am unable to do that’.

‘When I see that my mother and father are pleased with me and Vito is pleased with me it makes me pleased with myself. I consider in myself a bit of bit extra.’

But is she hungry to win? ‘It’s humorous as a result of on the very begin I stated to Vito, ‘I’m not likely a aggressive particular person’ and he stated, ‘You have to be aggressive — with your self.’ And so I’m now. I simply need to be the very best I will be.’

She’s operating off to coaching now, hurling herself into Vito’s arms. The proof is that she loves herself a bit of greater than she did 11 weeks in the past, which is already a win.