Strictly fans praise Sarah Hadland as ‘star of season’ after sensational Paso Doble

‘Miranda’ star recently admitted to fancying her pro partner Vito Coppola

Strictly Come Dancing fans have been keen to pre-emptively crown Sarah Hadland the winner of this year’s competition after she stole the show with her sensual Paso Doble in week two.

The 53-year-old comedy actor, best known for playing the joke shop manager Stevie Sutton in the BBC sitcom Miranda, performed a stunning Paso to “Freed From Desire” by Gala during Saturday night’s episode (28 August) to rapturous applause and praise from fans at home.

Hadland effortlessly stormed across the ballroom wearing a bedazzled cape-like dress. After she executed her elegant technical lifts and showed off her fan-flapping skills, judge Craig Revel Horwood said: “That got me going, darling.”

Motsi Mabuse said Hadland was “full of power” while Anton Du Beke told her “you topped off a great night”. Overall, the pair came second on the leaderboard, following behind Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec by three points with 32.

One fan on X/Twitter immediately crowned Hadland the “star of the season” as another called her an “amazing pocket rocket”.

Hadland performs a Paso to ‘Freed From Desire’ (BBC/Guy Levy)

Another fan went as far as to call her “Dame Sarah” saying she was already the “winner”.

“SARAH HADLAND I LOVE YOU AND YOUR SPINS,” said another passionate fan, as one concluded simply: “Sarah Hadland. Take a bow.”

The dance comes after Hadland jokingly admitted to fancying her pro partner Coppola from the minute they met.

Sarah Hadland’s show-stopping Paso Doble (BBC/Guy Levy)

“Yes, I fancied him. I’m alive, aren’t I?” she said in a recent interview. “If you’re female and have a heartbeat, how could he NOT be anybody’s type?”

Speaking about the choreography ahead of Saturday night’s routine, Hadland told The Sun: “The paso doble we’re doing this week is very serious and sensual, and when we started learning it I was very, very giggly.”

She then joked: “There’s a lot of groin to thigh, and I have to look deep into his eyes, which make it ten times worse.”