BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans divided as they compare 'iconic' Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola to former finalists

Strictly Come Dancing fans have been left divided as they compared Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola to former finalists following their latest performance.

The pair were back in the ballroom but it wasn't the one they have been used to performing in for the past several weeks as week nine of the BBC One dance contest was broadcast live from Blackpool's Tower Ballroom in Strictly's annual special.

And it ended up being a great night for actress Sarah and professional dancer Vito, who had earlier energetically made their way onto the sprung ballroom floor, as they finished joint top of the leaderboard with a near-perfect score of 39 points out of a possibl 40.

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Their couple’s choice routine to Padam Padam by Kylie Minogue was described by judge Craig Revel Horwood as “a little too perfect”. He told them he knew “it sounds weird”, but felt that Hadland lacked emotion, which he felt “brought you out” of the performance at moments.

That being said, Craig still appeared to enjoy the routine and made it known by concluding his comments with: "Spectacular, darling!" Meanwhile, the other judges had only praise for the couple, with Anton Du Beke calling the performance "the best thing you've done by miles" and Shirley Ballas agreeing that it was their "best dance so far".

But the routine couldn't help but get Strictly fans thinking back to years gone by, particularly to when Morning Live presenter Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez performed their Caberet-inspired couple's choice rotuine in Blackpool to Mein Herr.

@AngelosantoK said: "#Strictly Sarah's dance is giving off strong Helen Skelton defiance vibes, no? That isn't a criticism, btw." @tasyasmagna commented: "Sarah and Vito’s Frug is giving me Helen Skelton Cabaret vibes in the absolute best way… absolutely iconic #strictly."

@GElnekaveh wrote: "#strictly Sarah & Vito's CC reminded me so much of Helen & Gorka's CC." @scddevereaux posted, alongside pictures of Helen and Sarah on the show two years apart: "My favourite genre of couples choice is woman talking about self growth and discovery in the vt and then come and deliver the hottest fosse number possible #strictly."

But @sarahlawson84 replied: "Agree - but Helen and Gorka’s ‘Mein Herr’ is in another league #Strictly." @DebbieW502017 added: "Totally agree. I throughly enjoyed the routine but Gorka and Helen were simply sublime."