The Strictly professional dancer and rising national treasure is also an accomplished cook, and now he’s sharing his favourite recipes in a new book, writes Emma Higginbotham

If ever you find yourself dining with Vito Coppola, Strictly Come Dancing’s exuberant Italian pro, please don’t put parmesan on your seafood linguine. Or order a cappuccino after midday. Or, heaven forbid, offer him pizza topped with pineapple. This culinary ‘crime’ (even worse, he says, than being given spaghetti with ketchup in Russia, and a “hairy sausage” in Ukraine) was committed by a girl he fancied in Greece, and appalled him so much that he feigned illness. “I grabbed my stomach, said ‘I’m sorry’, and ran away,” he laughs. “Shame, because l liked her. But don’t make me choose between you and my country!”

Vito, you see, takes food very seriously. He may be famous for his puppyish enthusiasm and slinky hips, but the 33-year-old is also a Celebrity MasterChef winner who’s often invited to cook on ITV’s This Morning, and rustles up Italian favourites – occasionally topless – on Instagram.

He greets me with a bear hug when we meet to chat about his new book, Love, Vito. A memoir told through food, it’s packed with recipes that illustrate his life, from the pasta alla norma of an idyllic childhood in southern Italy to the paella de Tenerife he fell in love with during a penniless stint on the island, selling broadband over the phone, before Strictly came calling.

“I rely on food,” he says. “There are moments when maybe I had a full week, and I feel tired and deflated, and I miss my family. And how do I pick myself up? I’ll cook a dish that my mum or my nonna used to make for me. It brings me so much joy, and I no longer feel alone.”

Vito grew up with his younger brother in Eboli, a small town in Campania, where life revolved around growing, cooking and eating incredible produce. His grandfathers were both farmers, and his early memories range from sniffing the pizza dough at his uncle’s restaurant (“damp, fleshy and alive”) to crushing fragrant San Marzano tomatoes into passata.

His parents ran the town’s dance school, which Vito joined aged six, only to be thrown out for waving a frog around. He rejoined the following year and excelled. At 14, he moved alone to Bologna for better dance tuition. Teased by the other boys and dreadfully homesick, he sought solace in the food of the north – the truffles, the tortellini, and the torta cioccolato e pistacchio that he’d bake with his guardian’s daughter, elbow-deep in flour.

Competitions took him all over the world in his teens, including Siberia, where he lived for a while with his Russian dance partner. It wasn’t a happy time; the Russians sneered at his curvy physique, and he became bulimic. “I was trying to fit into this ideal stereotype of dancer, but apparently my feet were too wide, and my bum was too rounded,” says Vito. Eventually he “chose food” and found his way through. After university in Naples, he was happily teaching dance, touring and competing globally when covid hit. His income completely dried up, and depression set in. “You’re in a dark tunnel, and you don't realise until it's too late to go back. You can only move forward and try to get to the exit,” he says. “But through my experience, maybe someone reading the book will find the strength to fight their battle with depression, with food, with loneliness. The important thing is that you never give up.”

Vito was living in Tenerife, saving for the airfare to start a new life in the States, when he was asked to join (and duly won) the Italian version of Strictly. In 2022, his “legs shook with excitement” when he was invited onto the flagship UK show. He and singer Fleur East reached the final, and he won the glitterball trophy with actress Ellie Leach the following year. Then, a curveball.

“When they said ‘Would you like to do MasterChef?’ I was like…” He nods with comical vigour. “But I didn't know what I was throwing myself into.” He rang his grandparents for advice, and cooked with their recipes scribbled on his arms. “I was like the celebrities are in Strictly, because I was not confident. I was really hoping that the judges would love my food.” They did. Especially the scialatielli ai frutti di mare, followed boozy rum babas, which won him the final.

As for whether it’s better to lift the MasterChef trophy or the glitterball, “it's different, because Strictly is not really about us,” says Vito. “I always imagine that my celebrity is the picture, and I'm the frame. On MasterChef, I was the frame and the picture. It was the first time I did something only for me, and I loved it.”

Would he rather be cooking or dancing? “Can I dance while I cook?” he grins. “If you could see me cooking in my house! I put the music volume up, I sing, I dance, I start spinning, I keep elbowing everything onto the floor. It's a pure mess, but I am so happy.”

Love, Vito: My story of food, family and finding home (Sphere) is out on 27 August

KITCHEN GRILL

Tastes like home?

Spaghetti aglio e olio, the garlic and oil spaghetti that my Nonno Vito makes, is a special one.

Favourite drink?

When I eat out, I do like to have a little bit of limoncello at the end to digest, but I drink mainly water.

A well-thumbed cookbook?

My Nonna Lina has a cookbook handwritten with all her recipes, and she protects it with her life. She keeps hiding it in different places. I hope one day it will be mine – what a precious treasure!

Guilty pleasure?

Chocolate spread. I cannot say no. And the tiramisu that my Auntie Laura makes is the best in the world.

Your worst kitchen habit?

I don't clean up while I'm cooking. I use everything every single pan, dish, fork, knife and spoon.

Best late summer ingredient?

Lemons. I’ll do a good fresh spaghetti, or a dessert or cake, and I also just like lemon juice in water. It's very refreshing.

Your ice cream flavour?

Always coffee.

Starter or dessert?

I love desserts.

Go-to kitchen implement?

A wooden spoon that a fan gave to me a few years ago, with my face etched on the back. I thought with time it would fade, but my face is still there.

An edited version of this interview appeared in Your Week In Food in August 2026 © Waitrose