BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Ellie Leach declares love for Coronation Street star in personal message

Ellie Leach has declared her love for one of her former Coronation Street co-stars in a sweet social media actress. It's been over a year since the actress was seen leaving the cobbles as Faye Windass.

Ellie spent 13 years playing the character in the ITV soap before her exit in May 2023. She then later signed up for the 21st series of Strictly and after 13 weeks of learning how to dance and performing her heart out each week in front of millions of viewers' eyes alongside professional dance partner Vito Coppola, the pair emerged victorious.

Ellie and Vito faced stiff competition in the grand final back in December from Dianne Buswell and Bobby Brazier and Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin and were left speechless when host Tess Daly confirmed they were the winners of the BBC One dance contest before they lifted the coveted Glitterball trophy.

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But she has in no way forgotten her Corrie roots and still has many friends from show that she still remains in contact with - including Colson Smith.

On Tuesday (August 13), the actor, who stars as PC Craig Tinker in Corrie, was celebrating his 26th birthday and Ellie, 23, was among those to publicly send him their birthday wishes.

Taking to her Instagram Story, Ellie shared a number of photos of herself and Colson together, with one showing the latter planting a kiss on the Strictly winner's head while another saw them with former Corrie star and Ellie's real-life cousin Brooke Vincent.

Alongside the post, Ellie, from Audenshaw, gushed: "Happy birthday to my best mate @colsonjsmith. Hope you have the best day, love youuu."

It comes after Colson told what show he can now