Strictly 2026 : It’s Emma, Josh and JoJo

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

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

It does remind me of the time the football team I support parted company with the manager 'by mutual agreement' and said manager was on TV sporting a black eye the following day!

Still following but underwhelmed by the announcements to date and don’t have much to add. The list of contestants seems to decline year on year and this year looks to continue that trend.

I agree with pp - I preferred having genuine learners with guest pros showcasing specific dances. Vincent and Flavia doing a pro Argentine Tango each series was always one of my favourite spots.

I’m not inspired either by the new presenting line up which swaps the only two women presenting team of a major entertainment show for one woman and two men. I have no enthusiasm for Widdecombe in the Claudia role and much as I love JoJo as a dancer and a guest on chat shows I’m not sure he will work on the other side of the mike. I don’t know Emma Willis but from comments about her experience in the lead presenter role I’m hoping she will do well.

I finished last series thinking that if Tess and Claudia were leaving then use that to shake up the formula a bit and breathe some new life in. So far it seems they are doing the opposite of that.

I’m not surprised Claudia’s chat show didn’t work. I love her on Strictly and Traitors but the chat format just didn’t work. There are very few presenters who have really cracked that format, most disappear after one series.

I think whoever is in charge of Strictly atm is doing a terrible job.

The 3 person team is very underwhelming, apart from Emma. She's a true professional, used to hosting live TV shows, and has done a great job with them. She's also very likeable, and shows great empathy for the contestants, which is really important.

The names released so far have been disappointing, and I really don't understand why they have released them so early.
I hope they've got some high profile people joining the line-up eventually.

And several of my favourite dancers have been 'let go'.

Too many changes at one time...

At this point I'm not excited for the season to start ...

What about if they moved it to after Christmas, starting in the new year? It would be different. I think it has to either keep to a formula that is cosy and comfortable (cant do that because of Tess and Claudia) or change it drastically so it almost feels like something new.
Stuff I don’t like that they won’t change - stop the silly videos, either do it seriously or forget it; stop mixing the dances too much, too hard to compare; have some expert dances eg Vince and Flavia plus the various equivalents; the dancers are too much the main thing, they are more sleb status than the slebs; put the results show back to a live show on Saturday night; stop the judge silliness - have a joke yes, but sometimes they’re just silly for the sake of it; dry ice? Cant see the feet, don’t do it.

I squashed up all my points so you wouldn’t need to expand the comment but now it just looks squashed and blocky to read, sorry.

I think they’re so determined to make it ‘new’ and ‘different’ that they lose sight of ‘yes but don’t make it worse’.

At this point I’m not excited for the season to start…

Nor am I and I’ve been the OP now for a number of years

Agree with @C8H10N4O2 about the women/men thing

I know every year ppl complain about how the names are getting more z list...but I cant remember who was a "big" name last year?? Was there one??
Tbh I quite like it when there is someone vwry well known on it, but I usually end up liking and rooting for the lesser knowns so I dont really mind.
Deltra and lacey to me are well known enough.

Alex Kingston was last year's big name.

Stefan Dennis for the 80s Neighbours viewers.

I am not excited either despite being a Strictly fan for years ( been on this thread under other names).
Many reasons for this, not just Claudia and Tess leaving, or the fact that I dont know any celebs this year except Delta ( I usually don't know anyone, but I get to know them).

Increasingly tired of the CGI, horrible theme weeks, often inappropriate music, garish costumes, dead nans, sob stories, and uneven judging, all making the dances completely secondary. I have stopped watching the VTs because they are never about the dances or technique, just weepy families or traipsing around Blackpool. Lately,I have also been fed up of Shirley being very hard on female celebs- particularly those of colour- and fawning over the men. The female pros really need to be recruited from somewhere other than Burn the Floor and have some personality. The group dances need to be more than just posing and voguing.

That's a lot of moaning! I will still watch this year, but not live, I think, so I can fast-forward through all the crap.

'Increasingly tired of the CGI, horrible theme weeks, often inappropriate music, garish costumes, dead nans, sob stories, and uneven judging, all making the dances completely secondary. I have stopped watching the VTs because they are never about the dances or technique, just weepy families or traipsing around Blackpool. Lately,I have also been fed up of Shirley being very hard on female celebs- particularly those of colour- and fawning over the men.'

Hard agree with all of this, especially the endless sob stories

Every time I think of the new series, for a split second I think of Tess and Claude, and then start missing them all over again! I will definitely watch because I'm a huge fan. It will take time to get used to the 3 new presenters, but I'm going to give it a good go

Also I hate that there are fewer women every year.

Dame Sarah Storey has been announced.

Re the imbalance of sexes. Last year we had 6 female vs 9 male contestants. By semi finals there were 3 female and 1 male. It usually works out in the end.

I find it odd that they got rid of 4 female pros and 1 male who left, and still haven't announced any new ones yet.

I got Sarah mixed up with Victoria Pendelton I think it was just the cycling but thought they were recycling past contestants.

I hate that they get rid of perfectly good dancers and bring in more I know it is supposed to be fresh blood and all that but these dancers make strictly their job .

I heard that they chose who to keep based on how active they are on social media and how many followers they have.

When strictly started in 2004 (?) there was none of this. No fripperies. No ‘engagement’. It was just dancing. Where has that gone?

Another thing I loved was for a while you could rewatch the dances through a fixed camera up high so you could see how they moved across the floor, and it was perhaps a closer version to what the judges and audience saw, no weird camera shizzle.

Someone on the Northern Soul thread just said they’d love to see it on Strictly. Is there a reason it isn’t, do the dances all come from a specific group? What makes a dance suitable or unsuitable for Strictly?

I want Northern Soul to be on it or to have a pro dance by a couple of experts!

Theoretically it could be a couples choice.

Which to me is the reason why celebs with dance training beyond childhood shouldn't be allowed to take parts. The Strictly pros are supposed to be able to dance all sorts of styles that aren't ballroom/Latin but contestants can be dancers as long as they can parrot "but I've not done Ballroom/Latin its very different, I'll have to unlearn everything I know" (apart from how to learn choreography, how to do basics like spot in spins, how to work with rhythm etc).

There was a lot of talk about Northern Soul during Kelvin Fletcher’s stint

Oh forgot about couples choice 🤔.

Agree with those with extended training, it can end really badly if the public takes against them for whatever reason.

I don’t remember anyone talking about NS before, obviously I’m not as dedicated a listener as I like to think!

They did a Northern Soul group dance on Blackpool week back in 2017.

To be honest, I preferred Strictly when it was most ballroom and Latin. The introduction of Couple's Choice has watered that down as people can just do what they want and it's harder to judge and compare.

There was talk that he had been influenced by his Dad who was involved in NS @NoCommentingFromNowOn

I just looked at that dance, the camera caught Neil (?) for a few seconds but apart from that I didn’t like it so much. It didn’t really seem like the NS videos I’ve had in my algorithm recently. Maybe it doesn’t lend itself to couples Strictly style dancing?

I found it easier when there were only two styles per week, and everyone did one of them.

Ooh. We need to see his dad then 👀👀👀

Didn't his CC have a bit of a Northern Soul flavour to it? Not introduced as an NS dance (street commercial I think) but I think the Dead Nan, sad face intro video was all about his Dad being into northern Soul and the dance had some NS moves unless I have misremembered it (which is entirely possible).

I also want to have a bit of moan but I know I always end up watching it and get invested. It's always been the highlight of Saturday winter nights and getting cozy.