Strictly’s Janette Manrara discusses next move as she says her ‘calendar recently opened’
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Janette Manrara(Image: Janette Manrara Instagram)
Janette Manrara has been hinting at her next move after suggesting she had recently become more available to take on other opportunities.
The professional dancer and presenter is thought not to be returning to host Strictly Come Dancing’s spin-off show, It Takes Two, which airs every weeknight on BBC Two, bringing fans extra interviews with the show’s stars as well as behind-the-scenes insight.
It is currently hosted by Janette and Fleur East, but it was recently reported that the show, launched in 2004 with Claudia originally helming it, will be no more when Strictly returns for its 2026 run, with a suggestion that the entertainment programme will follow the vodcast route used by The Traitors and The Apprentice.
It was last week that eagle-eyed Strictly fans claimed to have spotted a major move from both Janette and Fleur that reveals their future, despite it not being confirmed by the two stars themselves or the BBC.
@superTV247 said: “Fleur East & Janette Manrara have removed ‘#Strictly It Takes Two’ from their Instagram profiles following rumours that the show’s format will be changing, seemingly confirming that it will have new hosts too. But could Fleur or Janette be joining Emma Willis on the main show?”
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Janette and Fleur were the latest hosts of Strictly spin-off It Takes Two(Image: BBC)
@RyanSoapKing25 also noted: “UPDATE: Janette Manrara & Fleur East have now BOTH removed #ItTakesTwo from their Instagram bios. Does this mean #Strictly #StrictlyComeDancing It Takes Two is really getting scrapped for a “Visualised Podcast” this year? What do we think of this move?”
@PhilipCarm96996 replied: “I hope not as it’s part of our Strictly experience watching ITT. Hopefully it’s staying but with different hosts which if so is a shame as they’d made it their own.” @AMG_Review added: “Makes zero sense for a VISUAL first show about dancing to prioritise podcast format for its spin off Yes have a podcast if you want but ITT works so well in its own format.”
Now, Janette has been seen answering questions about a possible return to the stage, having last year taken on the iconic role of Roxy Hart in the musical Chicago. When asked if she’s do another musical, she replied in a video: “Absolutely yes, amen. I will be doing more musicals. Watch this space.
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(Image: Janette Manrara Instagram)
“My calendar has now been freely opened, so that’s a new, exciting chapter of my life. Not new, because I obviously played Roxy in Chicago, but the future if looking gorgeous, darlings!”
She was then subsequently asked what she’d like her next musical role to be, to which Janette teased: “I have a couple of bits in the pipeline that are still TBD. So I don’t want to jinx them, so as soon as I can share anything, I will. But what I will say is that I loved playing Roxy Hart, and in my own tour with Aljaz [Skojanec], I sang Carberet and Mein Heir, so I obviously love the Bob Fossey musicals.
“But my voice is an Alto, so it’s really hard for me to land the higher, Soprano-style roles. So I think anything with that warmer, jazzier, deeper tone of singing, I would love to play and will hopefully play lots of in the near future.”
