Strictly Come Dancing will move away from a fixed host split, the show's incoming presenters said, leaving who does what open for the new series. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe told a podcast audience they will not step into set, defined roles and that producers intend to let the trio find the format together.
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Willis, speaking to Richard Osman, said, "No one's replacing anybody - at the minute it's all very kind of open." She and her colleagues rejected recent reports that Radebe would work as an external backstage "roving reporter", with Willis adding, "There's definitely no backstage roving reporter, which is what has been reported quite a bit."
Widdicombe framed the approach as fluid, comparing the presenting team to "Total Football", and said, "We're going to be moving everywhere." Radebe, who joins after a run as a professional dancer, said he expects to do "a little bit of prying and finding out the truth" and called the assignment "very, very exciting," while admitting a "little bit of a tinge" of FOMO watching the pros rehearse.
The decision to pair the three of them came as a surprise, the presenters said, and was described by Willis as a "wild card decision" by producers. She outlined a lengthy, secretive selection process that included a chemistry test to see how the trio interacted, calling the audition "the most cloak and dagger thing" she has experienced and the chemistry test "terrifying, but so brilliant." Widdicombe said the secrecy extended to his cover story for taxi drivers, who were told he was testing for a show called The Great Garden Glow Up.
The new arrangement replaces the longstanding presentation pattern established by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who left at the end of the 2025 series. Daly had presented from the dancefloor while Winkleman handled the post-dance debrief upstairs in the "Clauditorium." The incoming trio say they will experiment on air and refine their roles as the run unfolds, aiming to shape a collective dynamic rather than replicate the previous two-host format.
The series returns on Saturday 19 September with 15 celebrities competing for the glitterball trophy, including Delta Goodrem, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Lacey Turner, Jaime Winstone and Tabby Stoecker. Judges Shirley Ballas, Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke will also be back for the new season.
