Strictly’s Vito Coppola fuels Ellie Leach romance rumours during cosy appearance and calls her the ‘perfect diamond’

STRICTLY Come Dancing star Vito Coppola has continued to fuel romance rumours thanks to a cosy TV appearance with Ellie Leach.

The pro dancer and Ellie were interviewed on Strictly's spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two and their chat only fanned the flames further.

Vito, 31, was then seen describing Ellie, 22, as a "shiny diamond" for a "perfect ring" after heaping praise on his dance partner in a separate segment.

The pair, who will be performing a quickstep to Belle from Beauty & The Beast this weekend, were first up on Wednesday night's BBC2 show.

Settling down for a chat with host and former Strictly pro Janette Manrara, Vito and Ellie snuggled up to each other in coordinating outfits.

Coronation Street actress Ellie was wearing a pretty white dress with black polka dots, while Vito was in a tux with a black and white spotty hankie tucked into his breast pocket.

Vito playfully touched Ellie's bare arms as he spoke about an analogy that compared the quickstep to a swan; calm on top and feet going fast under the water.

The pair even accidentally-on-purpose touched fingers at one point while giggling together.

In a separate video, which aired minutes later, Vito passionately described Ellie as a "diamond".

"I see Ellie like a rough diamond and you see this diamond shining and shining and shining and then it's ready to be put on the perfect ring," he gushed.

Last weekend, Ellie and Vito sent viewers crazy with their very passionate Argentine Tango to Destiny's Child track Bills, Bills, Bills.

As the intimate dance unfolded on Saturday night, fans were convinced the stars 'almost kissed' on the ballroom floor.

The camera angles made it difficult to tell for certain whether they actually smooched, but X - formerly Twitter - was filled with speculation.

Later, Ellie admitted on the Strictly Results Show that her dad "loves" Italian dancer Vito after getting to know him.

She told host Claudia Winkleman: "My dad is usually a man of few words and he rarely shows any emotion but every week he messages me and is like 'so proud of you, crying again' like welling up.

"And he's just been so amazing and such support, it's been nice to know that I'm making him proud."

Ellie added: "He loves Vito."

Vito, meanwhile, said: "I love Ellie's family because you know, we exchange cooking recipes and I say like 'ok, show me how you do the gravy and the mash potato and I'll tell you how to do pasta."