Strictly 2026 : It’s Emma, Josh and JoJo

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

First thread of the year! Let us reconvene here for further discussions

I'm really disappointed - I wanted Zoe and Rylan. Also confused about JW - what's sparkly and glam and Saturday night about him???

Don't understand what Johannes will be doing either

On the other hand, we're stuck with it so I'm not going to moan 😁 and maybe we all thought that Claudia was a bit of a wacky choice years ago, and she ended up being born to do it? 🤷🏻

I love JoJo, but agree. He's going to be flitting about back stage, glammed up, crying and telling everyone how wonderful they are (I think)
Claude famously couldn't learn any of the dance steps they tried to get her to do, so the presenters definitely don't need to be dancers.

Emma will be great, she’s an experienced live presenter. Jojo though? I’m not convinced a new presenter thrown into a new format will work. As for Josh Widdicombe, that’s just such a weird choice. The BBC are obviously trying to go for a Bake Off/Noel Fielding type vibe (which doesn’t work anyway). Josh isn’t funny, has a horrible Keir Starmer adenoidal voice and isn’t even pretty. This line up won’t survive

Yeh his voice is hard on the ears and he doesn't speak clearly either.
Is it a typical well spoken Exeter accent?
It sometimes seems OTT on his comedy panel shows.
Yes strictly is about looks and I doubt the producers would have chosen a below average looking female presenter/ comedian. Which is unfair obv.
Emma used to be a model.
They do choose looks when it comes to being on TV.

Happy about Emma. I find her very likeable, she’s beautiful (not that that should matter), and she can bring the glam. But most importantly is a tried and tested presenter.

Josh though, wtf? Such an odd choice. I do find him funny and he seems like a nice person, but he also suffers from flushing going red in the face when speaking sometimes. Live tv every Saturday? Feel like he’s going to burst.

It may be an absolute car crash, or it may be inspired. I’ll give it a go.

Gotta love “content”! Plus this probably means more live streaming train journeys 🤣

I like Parenting Hell, but Josh spends a lot of time on that yawning and saying how tired he is. He also talks a a lot about how he doesn't get to spend time with his children due to his busy schedule.

Bearing in mind that his family now live in Exeter, accepting the Strictly role means that he is now committed every weekend for at least three months a year (is he giving up Last Leg?) in the run up to Christmas. Both of his children are at school 5 days a week and he will need to be at Elstree every weekend, with all the travelling that this entails.

Seems an odd choice for him to make (although I accept that Strictly is a fairly high profile gig). I just hope that Parenting Hell won't be full of even more yawning and moaning about how little time he spends with his family as a result of his own choices.

I think they are going to bin ITT - Johannes will be the roving reporter that makes up the weekly digital content

they haven’t decided but I think Josh will be in the clauditorium becuase he has the quick fire wit to come up with funny quips - I think they will put him in sequined suits etc

im so so glad it’s not Zoe - she talks too fast and nothing very interesting

I wonder if Emma Willis went for it with her husband originally

I thought the VT of the new presenters was very underwhelming and didn’t see any chemistry

Fairly confident it won’t be ITT as we know it in its old format. He clearly did something right in the auditions

Good point, I actually prefer The Last Leg to SCD. Josh brings the least to the table on that so perhaps they could freshen up the lineup there?

Emma and Rylan would have been great. Do we need a third presenter roving around. The VT’s are boring enough, just want to see the dances.

i am sad the lack of Zoe Ball

i should imagine they will make this very different now
i dont like Emma
Not used to seeing Josh in this

I think this is my sign that watching strictly is over for me! Or maybe i will only watch On Demand and fast forward through the presenting bits. I cannot watch anything Josh Widdecomb is in!
I’m glad it wasn’t Rylan either though.

I love Jojo. And you’re so right haha

They've said ITT will adapt the 'podcast format' like Uncloaked uses (Traitors spin off).
Basically all sitting in chairs round microphones. No real difference except a smaller studio?

I’m disappointed at no Zoe and going back to male majority presenters. It was the only show to my knowledge with two women presenting.

I don’t know Emma but enough posters here rate her that I’m hopeful. I love JoJo but not sure how this roving reporter role will work or if he has the experience to interview rather than be interviewed. Has he done anything like this before?

Josh - no idea why he was in the mix. The Beeb love him but really why not Zoe or at least another woman instead of yet another Beeb white male commedian..

You've not seen Emma in anything at all? She's everywhere

And she's annoying!

I don't find her annoying. Certainly not on the scale of Alison Hammond, Amanda Holden or Davina McCall

I wanted Zoe and Rylan.

Emma is OK (beautiful and an experienced presenter) and JoJo is lovely, but I'm not convinced he'll work out as a roving reporter...there will certainly be lots of tears! Josh, otoh, I can't stand and I'm honestly struggling to see why he was chosen - annoying voice, no charisma, boring. I've been tiring of the show anyway, so this might be my cue to give up.

The Josh thing is certainly weird. They keep going on about the chemistry tests and how they were blown away.
Maybe, just maybe JoJo is in the clauditorium, and Josh is hosting the podcast...?

No - only in a few clips linked since the announcements.

This is her? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932321/
If so I’ve not seen a single programme on that list - I’m not really a watcher of reality TV.

OK well annoying is maybe the wrong word.
I just think she's a bit crap tbh and she annoys ME.

No, that’s not her. This is her:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Willis

Thank you!

I was trying to work out which Emma she was on IMDB based on “she does reality shows”. Looking down that list I don’t think I’ve seen any of the shows so only have comments here as recommendation.

I would assume the success “fronting” a big show is what makes her attractive to producers - However I wish she were with Zoe rather than two men.