BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola reveals move he makes 'every day'

Strictly Come Dancing star Vito Coppola has revealed that move he makes 'every day' in order 'love himself more', and his former dancer partner Ellie Leach is seemingly on board.

The dancer has had a bit of a tricky time of late having had to temporarily pull out of the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour due to injury. Vito was due to reuntie with 2024 series dance partner Sarah Hadland last week but a problem with his back saw him missing out on the opening run of shows in Birmingham and Sheffield.

But he has confirmed that he will be reuniting with Sarah as the string of live arena shows continue. He shared a video on Instagram on Monday (January 20) which he then wrote alongside: "Good morning beautiful people. I am here to bring good news. I am feeling better and I am recovering well and I will be finally able to be back on tour.

"I wanted to share with you this beautiful news because you have been so supportive and so kind to me. You sent me thousands of messages and I could feel all your love. You gave a massive contribution and I am so so grateful. Thank you so much. Back soon, during this week." He added: "Happy to joined the gang on the Arena Live Tour and excited to be back on the new project @dancewithshirleyandvito for all the classes and workshops #alwayswithlove."

After watching the show from the audience on Tuesday night (January 21), Vito revealed that he should be back on stage as the Strictly stars move to Newcastle on Wednesday (January 22) for their next shows.

But in between all that, Vito wanted to mark National Hug Day and shared a picture to Instagram of him embracing himself. Alongside it, she wrote: "HUG YOURSELF! As you all know I love Hugs and keep hugging everyone, but today, for this special day I want to give you a special message.

"Start to hug yourself, love yourself more. I hug myself everyday and I know that it could feel a bit weird at the beginning but it so good to give and get a warm hug to you by you!"

He went on: "We meet people in our life, but let’s think for a moment about how many times we are on our own, like me in this pic for example, on a train far away from my family and with nobody to hug or who could hug me.

"Sometimes when we really need a simple hug there is nobody next to us, and so I have started to think: why don’t I hug myself? The first time I felt stupid, the second I was making sure that nobody could see me and after I started to think that it’s a beautiful thing to hug myself, lo love myself, to give two safe arms who could really understand what I am feeling right now, and let me tell you that it’s a beautiful thing!

"Try it and let me know. If you will make a story of you hugging yourself please tag me and put the hashtag #hugyourself and I will repost in my stories. I hope that through my sharing I could make you feel less lonely and more loved. Happy National Hugging Day Beautiful People #hugyourself #alwayswithlove."

Ellie, meanwhile, who won Strictly in 2023 alongside Vito, took to her Instagram Story with a string of pictures of herself and the Italians tar to mark the occasion.

Alongside the collage of images, in which they were always beaming for the camera while in a hugging position, the former Coronation Street star wrote to her fans and followers: "6 pics with the best hugger in the world for international hug day [red heart emoji] @vitocoppola."