Strictly Come Dancing's Sarah Hadland has opened up about her "shock" journey on the show.
The Miranda star, who is partnered with Vito Coppola on this year’s series, opened up about her Strictly experience during an appearance on the show's BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two last night (November 19).
Sarah explained she had some preconceived notions about how her experience on the show would unfold, so it was a "shocker" when she first began training with Vito and learned how tough it would be.
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"When you start something like this, you sort of in your head think, 'Right, I think it will be a bit like this and there'll be a bit of unknown'. But I think the journey I've been on, I really wasn't expecting," she shared.
"I know everyone talks about the 'J' word, but I thought, 'I don't think I'll be going on a journey. I think I know I can dance to this amount and that's how it will go'. And it was just a real shocker.
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"From the start, Vito has been amazing because he really pushes you. At the beginning I was so resistant. I was like, 'No I cant do that, no I shan't be doing that. No!'"
The actor continued: "Sometimes I'd even say, 'I want to stop now I need a break' and Vito would say, 'no, we need to push forward and we need to keep going'."
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However, Sarah said she now understands why Vito pushes her to keep going. "Because you reach a point where you have to keep going to get it into your body, even though your brain has kind of had enough," she said.
"But I didn't understand that, so I'd be like, 'no, I need to have a cup of tea, let's stop.'
"Now I understand that we have to keep going because even though my brain definitely hasn't got it, my body is somehow picking it up."
Sarah and Vito will return to the ballroom on Saturday night (November 23), where they will the dance the Rumba to 'Chains' by Tina Arena.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
