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 💃

It wasn’t a case of not gushing. She looked disappointed to me, and they didn’t seem ‘together’. I know they’ve only just been placed together, but they weren’t interacting.

😳😲😳😲😳😲 Jeez Louise, we could have had Zoe and Rylan??!! Really?! Whoever decided against them for the current crew made the wrong call and frankly should be sacked. I’m really shocked by that!

As others have said, thank goodness for Celeb Traitors!

I will come back to the thread and see how the first week goes according to here and I may try one of the results episode a few weeks down the line. My wider family members are majorly underwhelmed too, we used to have a buzzy what’s app group going for it but I think that looks to fall away this year. Maybe it’ll come good later on 😬🤞But I will be swerving for now. I struggled with Bruce too, maybe I peaked with Claud and Tess 😁🕺💃 Kinda nice to have Saturday eve telly slot open to other things now!

Wouldn't she be classed as an actor/filmaker though? Rather than just filming yourself walking round theme parks or some other thing and commenting?

I read that as ‘Kurly Kale’ and wondered who that is?

(opticians now booked…😊)

Or a new nickname!

‘KK’ for short!

I thought Lacey just seemed generally nervous even before the reveal. But possibly she would have preferred a different partner?

I have just caught up!
I am optimistic about the new presenters, I think they all did a good job and I quite liked the rotation of them being in the clauditorium vs dance floor. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next week!

I also loved the dance offs, they were fun and the music was great.

I didn't really love VTs or that SCD set. It felt very Xfactor/BGT. I hope they don’t continue down that vibe.

I'm excited about, Diane and will, alijaz and Melanie, tabby and mark and Chris and Amy.

They picked up and made a joke about it.
Josh asked someone what color tan they got

He had got the same ..it was golden .....looked at Emma

What color did you get ..

And made a joke
She had got alabaster white !

Think that was all a wardrobe malfunction
..not a person cockup !

I could be wrong but in the past I have noticed that Emma often dresses to match or to accentuate her eyes (which are a striking icy very pale colour). I just wonder if her preferred cool colour palette is starting to wash her out a bit as she is getting older (as everyone does). I am not trying to be ageist, she can totally wear the hell out of a slinky dress: I just wonder if warmer colours might be starting to suit her better. Hopefully we will get to see as the weeks go on.

But in the Voice ..she always wears strong bold colours.

Early rootings for me are John, Graeme, Tabby & Melanie.

I wasn’t aware of John but he seems a nice guy. He doesn’t shout ‘overbearing personality’ and could be likeable and funny enough to really grow on people. As we all know, this isn’t just a dance show!

How can anyone actually watch this! Does it get better? What was that ‘change partners’ bore fest about.

As if. She looked gorgeous.

I felt the whole programme was a bit chaotic. Emma was good, Josh looked out of his depth and JoJo kept looking to the other 2 for reassurance. I'm sure I'll get used to them though!

I thought Dianne looked uncomfortable with her partner

I reckon next year (25th series) will be the last one. The line up for Celebrity Traitors looks like the Oscars compared to Strictly this year.

Much better than previous pairing shows which really were boring. Celeb going to some place such as an ice rink/park/stadium and then the pro turning up and they both pretend they did not know who they were meeting.

This year was funny and entertaining. I liked it. Also Emma much better than wooden Tess

Three hosts feels jarring. Emma could easily carry the show alone like the voice with someone up in the auditorium.

I don't really like Emma's voice.

I mostly love Craig and his honesty which has become more watered down in recent years (probably cos their target demographic seems to be kids now. All the dressing up weeks).

Also I miss Neil

Doesn’t matter what they try, young people still won’t watch it. Many don’t have ( or can’t afford) a licence and see this as an older persons tv show.

I think she may have preferred either Kai or Alijaz.

I agree, and it seems to me there’s little point in them chasing a younger audience anyway when older and established viewers are still watching.

But the line-up for The Traitors isn't comparable, as they'd only have to commit to a few days for that, not months

Its a couple of weeks isn't it? But yes, its a shorter time commitment. However Strictly still managed to pull in the big names and for years was the top attraction for celebs going onto reality/competition shows. That changed a good few years ago and accelerated with the reputational damage of recent years.

I'm not a soap watcher or much of a reality show watcher but used to recognise most of the line up. Now I go through the names and think its a good year if I know three or four names. A lot of the poorer changes seemed aimed at the classic Beeb obsession with "bringing in the young ones" but there is no evidence this has happened and really it was never likely to, especially with the declining line up.

I never watched Saturday evening light entertainment in my teens/early 20s - I had better things to do. Its a slot people watch as children (no choice) and come back to with their own children (or rather the matching loss of Saturday nights) if they find something worth watching. I would have thought it made more sense to focus on developing and retaining their core audience.

My daughter (age 22) said she didn't know any of the "celebrities" either.

The problem this year is that normally you don't expect to recognise all the celebrities but you have some idea of why they might be considered one. As in "actress in well-known show" that you don't watch.

But this year we've got a "celebrity hairstylist"??