JIVE GOTTA WIN
Strictly star Ellie Leach and partner Vito Coppola share reason they’ve put romance on ice ahead of final
The actress is the bookies’ favourite to win
STRICTLY’S last woman standing Ellie Leach has declared she is now “doing it for the girls”.
The former Coronation Street star will dance for the Glitterball Trophy in Saturday’s live final against Bobby Brazier and Layton Williams.
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The actress, who is bookies’ favourite to win, said: “Honestly, I feel so so lucky to be in the final, everyone in this competition has been so amazing.
“I’m doing it for the girls! The last woman standing!
“I just loved everything about this experience. I just feel really, really grateful to be here.”
In the final, the pair will perform a show dance to a Jennifer Lopez megamix - which zany Italian pro partner Vito Coppola has described as “a bit like minestrone” as it combines so many dance styles.
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Ellie never thought she’d reach this point.
She added: “I was so nervous at the start. I was like, ‘look, I’m really sorry. There's gonna be things that I don't know if I can do’, and I was really, really scared.
“I've never had any dance experience. I actually cannot believe that we are in the final, and also how quick the time has gone.
“It feels like Christmas Eve every night, like you’re excited to wake up Christmas Day.”
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Ellie and Vito have had tongues wagging with their growing closeness but the dancer has now revealed the real reason any romance has been put on ice.
Asked about their chemistry, he said: “We have so many things to think about, you know, and choreography, and lift up and down, left, right, diagonal.
"And after we finish, we have the time to eat fast. We nap a little bit because we need to take the energy to continue.
"After we go home, we make sure we go to sleep the next day we have to go again.
“So we really are so focused on all this beautiful experience.
“We just had a very great connection, a 50/50 partnership since the beginning.”
Ellie said: “I think that, obviously, we've danced together for how many weeks now? It’s been three months we've been together every single day.
"And you really have to have a strong partnership to be able to trust in each other.”
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Glliterball to play for
THESE three couples seem friendly but, Strictly, they are competing for the Glitterball Trophy in this year’s final.
Favourites to win are Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola, at 1/10 — the shortest odds in the show’s history.
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Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin go into the showdown as second favourites on 8/1, with Bobby Brazier and Diane Buswell at 21/1.
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Coral’s John Hill said: “Should Ellie not win, it’ll be the biggest upset we have seen on the show.”
The final is on BBC One tomorrow at 7pm.
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