Strictly’s Ellie Leach reveals Vito Coppola had her on a strict self improvement regime of meditation, yoga and healthy eating during the show… and there was a punishment if she failed to stick to the rules

Strictly’s Ellie Leach has revealed that partner Vito Coppola made her follow a strict self-improvement regime of meditation, yoga and healthy eating on the show.

Ellie, 22, made the comments on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show On Thursday, she admitted that professional dancer Vito, 31, gave her a schedule of things to do every day during their four-month training.

Vito explained: ‘Since that morning it was like, “Okay, warm-up, then after the session we’ll do the cool-down and then the stretching, you go home, I’ll go home.”

‘I told her, “It’s meditation, just do it for 10 minutes, do these exercises, go to sleep early, eat healthy and see you tomorrow.”

Ellie admitted her partner was adamant she had to stick to the regime, adding: ‘I’d have to rehearse in the morning and he’d say to me, ‘Did you do it?’ and I said ‘No’, well… he wouldn’t be happy with me.’

“It was literally constant, 24/7 of, ‘Do this, do that, and make sure you take care of yourself, do this meditation, and make sure you do yoga.’ There was so much to do.’

And if Ellie skipped part of her morning routine, Vito would have her “sweep the floor” — which means doing exercises with a broom.

“We do this in Italy, you just clean the floor,” he added. ‘We clean the good energy to start the new year.’

But the soap star says she would never have grown as much as a person as she did on the show without Vito’s support.

The former Coronation Street star, who left her long-running role as Faye Windass in the ITV1 soap just months before hitting the dancefloor, said: ‘I would never have had this personal journey without Vito saying to me, ‘I believe in you, so just trust yourself, trust me.”

When asked if there was a dance during the show that she considered a “turning point,” Ellie said it was her Paso Doble.

“It was a real shift in the energy of dancing,” she said. ‘It was an opportunity for me to tap into a more intense side.

“It felt like I was bringing fire to the dance floor, that’s what we said during rehearsals.”

Ellie added: ‘Vito said, “We need to burn the floor, we need that passion and that fire.” And for me, that’s what really changed my perspective and I thought, “Oh, maybe I can do this.”‘

Vito added: “Yes, something clicked, I could see it. She started to believe in herself more than ever.

“And at that moment she said, ‘I can do it.’ And I said, ‘Yes, that’s what I’m trying to tell you, I believe in you doing it,’ and she did it.”

As they left the BBC studio on Thursday, Ellie bundled up against the cold in a long leather jacket and a multi-coloured scarf. She paired the outfit with baggy jeans and Ugg shoes.

Meanwhile, Vito also opted for a patterned scarf and carried a brown shoulder bag while holding a takeaway coffee.

It comes after the pair revealed to This Morning on Wednesday that they had matching tattoos and gushed about their ‘amazing relationship’.

Due to persistent rumors about the couple’s romantic status, host Craig Doyle bluntly asked, “Are they a couple?”

Vito responded: ‘We have a great relationship and we’re going to get a tattoo just for fun. Before we reached the final, we promised ourselves we would get one from an Aubergine.”

Ellie added: “We said if we made it to the final we would get a tattoo, but it was just a joke, we didn’t expect to get there!”

Vito continues: ‘In the end we decided to make a B with the body of an eggplant, because a B is a Brazilian insect. But that’s a symbol of our bond.”

Ellie and Vito broke their silence on romance rumors when they appeared on This Morning last year.

The pair have been romantically linked since the beginning of the series, before being crowned champions during last month’s glitzy finale.

This Morning’s host Josie Gibson asked them: ‘I have to ask because the chemistry between you is magical. We saw you on the dance floor and it was so beautiful to watch.

‘Is there a romance between you two? Are the rumors true or not?’

Ellie then replied: “Honestly we just had a great time dancing and built a really strong bond and friendship that will last forever.”

Vito repeated: ‘We have a very nice bond, a good bond. When you see a person and you immediately connect with a person.

‘I got a very first impression and when we met we felt like we had known each other for so long. I’m so lucky to have you in my life.’

Josie’s co-host Craig Doyle then continued to probe, adding: “There’s 100 per cent romance, 100 per cent… I can see it.”

Ellie and Vito then quickly exclaimed, “No, no.”

Ellie continued: ‘We’ve been through so much together, we’ve spent every day together for the past three months.

“So we’re really lucky to have that bond that we have and we’ll be friends for life.”