BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola brands Ellie Leach a 'warrior' as she opens up about his support

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Vito Coppola has branded his Strictly Come Dancing partner Ellie Leach a 'warrior' as she opened up about how the show has 'changed' her.

The pair have been going from strength to strength in the ballroom while also being subject to romance rumours out of it. Speaking as viewers have seen them both perform in the semi-final of this year's BBC One dance contest in the hope of making it through to the grand final next Saturday (December 16), Ellie has said she has surprised herself by how much her confidence has grown since joining the show three months ago.

The former Coronation Street star, 22, agreed she is a "completely different person" at the semi-final stage of the hit dance competition, compared with when it began in September after being paired with Italian professional dancer Vito, 31. READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans told to 'keep watching' for clue as couple's feeling 'run deeper than the dancefloor' READ MORE: Read more of today's top stories from the Manchester Evening News "I think that I didn’t realise how much of a personal journey I would go on throughout Strictly, I think that I’m so much more confident in myself now," she said. "I think I’m starting to really believe in myself, not just in dancing, but just in life.

I feel like I’ve actually matured a lot and I think that I’ve got a different outlook on life now which I think is really incredible." The actress, who is known for playing Faye Windass in Corrie, added: "I think I’ve become more of like a yes person, whereas before I was a bit of a no person because kind of that fear of the unknown being scared and stuff…I think I’ve really thrown myself into this experience and been like ‘You know what Vito, you’re a professional – if you