Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola 'missing' from Newcastle tour dates as BBC star replaced
by Simon Duke · ChronicleLiveVito Coppola had to be 'replaced' by another Strictly Come Dancing star in Newcastle on Thursday, with the popular pro and former champion missing from both performances, having just come back from injury a night earlier.
Ever since he joined Strictly in 2022, Italian pro Vito has been a massive fan favourite, as well as doing very well on the BBC show. Having been partnered with former X Factor star Fleur East in his first series, the couple made it all the way to the final and actually got the highest score on the night, as Hamza and Jowita ended up taking home the Glitterball trophy.
Vito then went one better a year later, as he and Ellie Leach won the 2023 final, despite being bottom of the leaderboard; with them topping the public vote when it mattered most to see off rivals including Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin. And it was actually Nikita who stepped into replace Vito at Newcastle's Utilita Arena on Thursday, to partner his 2024 celebrity partner, Sarah Hadland.
Prior to this year's Strictly tour beginning, it was revealed that Vito wouldn't be performing for the first few shows in Birmingham, with Nikita, who was already on the tour line-up for the group numbers, chosen to team up with Miranda star Sarah. After also being on the sidelines when the tour moved to Sheffield at the start of this week, Vito had some good news for fans on Tuesday, when he announced on Instagram that he'd be back to perform in Newcastle.
Things could not have gone better for Vito on his first show back as, after getting a perfect score of 60 out of 60 from the judges, he and Sarah won the Newcastle show on Wednesday night, topping the text vote from the arena audience. However, fans hoping to see him in action on Thursday were disappointed, with Sarah dancing with Nikita again, as Vito was nowhere to be seen.
While he has shared a number of posts on his Insta story over the last 24 hours, including a photo of a banner made for him by a fan, Vito has yet to offer an explanation as to why he didn't dance on Thursday.
Prior to the Strictly cast returning to the arena floor for their third and final performance in Newcastle, it was announced that Friday's tour date at Glasgow's OVO Arena had been postponed, due to the red weather warning for Scotland with the onset of Storm Eowyn and public transport services being cancelled.
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