Strictly 2026 : THE LAUNCH SHOW 19.25hrs How will our new presenters fare ? NO SPOILERS

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

A shiny new thread for a shiny new series. Please bring your dancing shoes over here.

Not sure whether I am doing weekly threads or not yet. Yet to decide, but I’m doing one for the first episode anyway.

The preshow chat thread has been quiet and I’m wondering if lots of people aren’t watching due to the departure of Tess and Claude. I have my reservations about the new presenting team but I’m willing to give them a chance.

KEEP DANCING 💃

I wasn't a Brucie fan and often found Tess a bit lacking but I did love Claudia. The new hosts were OK for me yesterday and hopefully will bed in over the coming weeks and start to find their own strengths.

It will continue to be the couple of hours a week that DH and DSs know I am to be left alone - less of a thing now the kids are teens but still a great excuse to throw Saturday cooking duties at DH.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to this series and I don't think the weird stop/ start contestant announcements helped but now we are here I'm looking forward to seeing what they do on the dance floor. 💃🕺

I stopped watching Strictly a few years ago, was getting bored with it . Watched it last night and absolutely loved it. Emma is STUNNING. Personally she looks fab in whatever she wears but hate to comment / judge women on their outfits, especially as we don’t do it so much with men, very unfair!

Really looking forward to rest of series

Johannes said not to judge the live show by the way they did this one. So they might not do the Emma/Tess thing. They might mix it up with Josh talking to the judges.

Whether we like it or not, the social media world is creating celebrities to a big portion of society. Look at Angry Ginge winning I’m a celeb. I’d not heard of him but all the young people I know had.

I thought the exact same thing!!!

I think last night's programme suffered from giving too much time just talking to the contestants, many of whom really weren't that articulate. It will be much better when they start the competition, and Josh will do a great job in the Clauditorium.

I wonder if they want us to get to know the female subs because they are concerned there's a reasonable chance someone will have to take over from Amy.

Content creation is as much a "proper job" as any other creative job - some paint, some write, some act, some direct, some make video, some create games, some present light entertainment shows.

Rather like most creative jobs the successful are few and far between and make it look simple and ridiculously easy. The reality behind those short vids is often many, many hours of work requiring skills across a range of areas. As with the arts generally, the majority barely make a living or do it as a side line.

Lasted 20 minutes. Only knew who 3 of the "celebs" were. Way too much screeching and squealing.

Will give the live show a go, but not really feeling it.

Of the two, I think Jojo is the better prospect despite the lack of professional presenting/interviewing experience.

I found the interview bits quite strikingly different with the different pairings. Emma obviously has presenting/interviewing nailed as a job but of the others it was Jojo who despite nerves made the interviewing parts about the celebs/dancers rather than himself. Josh's interventions were mostly jokes relating to himself rather than telling us anything about the celebs.

Add in Jojo's content knowledge and I can easily see him settling well into the Claudia side of the job. I still don't see any point to Josh on the programme apart from a noisy distraction.

who was the content creator that is being criticised?

I mean jobs change
wannabe on love island, big brother, they get tv jobs, etc.,

re emma's dress
i just noticed the straps were misaligned
other than that it was fine
i did not miss claudia and tess and all the cheering

I agree. I know someone with a successful YouTube channel which seems to be generally enjoyed, and she spends hours filming, researching, writing scripts, putting the videos together and editing.

I too don't understand why they take on new dancers and then they don't get a celeb.

I don't mind Amy although her dances are not that thrilling. Personally I can't take to Diane. She annoys me and always has.

Yeah, content creation is now a job, sadly. It's another matter that I have never taken to any of the content creators on Strictly.
Jojo needs some voice training. I do a lot of public speaking and I was given training in how to enunciate, speak slowly, throw my voice etc. He doesn't seem to have got it.

I’m not an Amy fan her choreo is dull and she’s OTT.
I’d rather that they kept Luba she never got a good go at it I felt.

Yes. My teenage godchildren declared him REALLY famous!

I think he’s called John Nellis. YouTuber does football content.

Next weeks show is 2 1/2 hours long !!

I presume that means they all dance next week ,instead of being split into 2 groups spread over 2 weeks.

That's a lot of snacks needed 😄!!

I was disappointed with the format of the launch show, long winded and I found it boring, presenters kept swapping around. I wasn't enamoured with the choice of presenters but thought I would wait until the show, still not keen. We know the show is scripted, but they made it obviously so, Josh's laugh was irritating, I love watching Jo Jo dance, but presenting, I'm not so sure. That said it is a dance show, so hopefully some good dancing will keep my interest

They all always dance in one show. The first few are always like marathons 😄

I was annoyed by Dianne until she danced with Chris McCausland. Boy, did she step up.

I get that and was going to caveat my comment by saying as much but I really do think on this occasion it would be grossly unfair to get rid of Amy at this point. Not every decision has to be cold and calculating.

I stand corrected. Clearly, I am showing my age.

Maybe the term content creator just brings up the wrong kind of image for me and many others. If they had stated actor/film director/artist/web designer/tutor it would have had more meaning and carried more weight to old gimmers like me 😁

I’m not sure Diane was very happy with her partner last night! Her face was a grimace rather than a smile.