BREAKING: The Strictly Come Dancing presenter is living in extreme fear just days before the show launches.
Strictly Come Dancing’s new presenting trio have revealed a major change to this year’s launch show as Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe prepare to take over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
The three new hosts appeared together on The One Show on Thursday evening for their first television interview as a presenting team ahead of the BBC competition’s return on Saturday, September 19.
Emma, Johannes and Josh will make their official Strictly debut during the pre-recorded launch show, when this year’s 15 celebrities discover which professional dancer they will be partnered with.
The first live show will follow on Saturday, September 26, when the newly formed couples perform for judges Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas.
But viewers have now been told to expect something very different before the live competition even begins.
Johannes Keeps New Roles Under Wraps
During their appearance on The One Show, presenter Alex Jones asked the question many fans have been wondering since the new hosting line-up was announced.
Turning to Johannes, she asked exactly how the responsibilities would be divided between the three presenters.
Johannes, however, refused to give too much away.
“What’s lovely is the fact is that you won’t get to know exactly what is happening with our roles on this launch show,” he explained.
“But I say people should tune in because that’s the exciting part. It’s different.”
Emma then hinted that viewers should expect plenty of activity from the trio, adding: “There’s a lot a movement isn’t there on Saturday.”
Josh joked that Johannes had “perfectly avoided that question”.
The uncertainty around their individual roles means fans may have to wait until the programme airs to see exactly how the new three-person hosting format will work.
Josh Admits He Has Been ‘Living in a Ball of Fear’
The conversation then moved to how the presenters were feeling with only days to go until their first episode airs.
Josh admitted the build-up had been nerve-wracking.
“It’s nerve-wracking because it feels like we’ve been waiting for so long to do this,” he said.
“I’ve been living in a ball of fear.”
However, filming the launch show appears to have helped ease some of those nerves.
Josh added: “Since we did the launch show, I’ve just wanted people to see it because we loved it and had the best time.”
Emma and Johannes appeared equally enthusiastic about viewers finally seeing what the team has been working on.
Strictly Introduces ‘Speed Dating’ Partner Twist
The biggest revelation came when Emma explained how this year’s celebrity and professional pairings will be unveiled.
Fans already knew that couples would be matched during the launch show rather than through the traditional pre-recorded individual reveals.
But Emma revealed that the BBC has gone further by introducing what she described as a “speed dating” style format.
“This is something they’ve not done on a launch show before,” she explained.
“Everybody is going to be paired up during a dance.”
The 15 celebrities will be divided into three groups of five, with each group taking part in its own dance.
Emma said the stars will effectively try out different dance partners as the music plays.
“They’ll be paired by speed dancing, like speed dating,” she said.
The presenters will stand at the side of the dance floor and repeatedly call for the contestants to swap.
“We’ll go ‘change partners’ and then they dance for five seconds and then we’ll go ‘change partners’,” Emma explained.
The unusual format means the celebrities will meet several potential partners before their final pairing is revealed.
Josh Wants the Format Every Week
Josh was clearly impressed by the idea and joked that it was so entertaining the programme should continue using it throughout the series.
He suggested they should “take it on and do it every week”.
That proposal was quickly rejected by the others.
The One Show presenter Roman Kemp said the idea sounded far too “stressful”, and Johannes agreed.
“I’m so glad I changed roles,” the former professional dancer joked.
“It’s a lot of work, it’s something that’s never been done before, so I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”
Johannes’s comments also highlighted just how different his experience of Strictly will be this year.
Having spent years on the dance floor as one of the programme’s professionals, he will now be standing alongside Emma and Josh guiding viewers through the competition instead.
With a completely new presenting team and a radically different way of forming the couples, the 2026 series is already shaping up to be one of Strictly Come Dancing’s biggest shake-ups in years.
And while the trio are keeping some details of their roles secret, Emma’s “speed dancing” revelation has given fans their first major clue that Saturday night’s launch show will look very different from what they have seen before.
