Strictly 2026, Week Zero
Strictly is back, although this year it feels a little bit like somebody has moved all the furniture around while we weren’t looking.
There are new presenters, new professional dancers, a largely unfamiliar celebrity line-up and, for us, no weekly
WTF Strictly podcast. Vi and I have other commitments this year and we always said we would keep recording for as long as it was enjoyable and manageable. I still need somewhere to put all my Strictly opinions though, so here we are. Welcome to Week Zero, aka Launch Night.
The biggest change is obviously the new presenting team. Emma Willis was always one of my favourites for the job, along with Zoe Ball. I still wish Zoe had got it, but Emma immediately looked as though she belonged there. She was comfortable in the studio, good in the rehearsal room and generally gave the impression that, whatever happened around her, she had it covered.
Johannes already knows the programme and everybody involved in it, so I’m sure he’ll settle in. At the moment I’m still undecided about how he fits into the presenting team, although he seemed much more at ease once he was upstairs with the couples.
Josh Widdicombe looked awkward - there’s no point pretending otherwise. Three presenters also felt like one presenter too many at times, but it was a pre-recorded launch show full of scripted links and forced reactions. The live shows will hopefully give them a better chance to find their own rhythm. I mean, we were still criticising Tess's presenting skills 20 years down the line - this is just the first episode of the new team!
I liked the new pairing dance much more than I expected to, both in and out of the rehearsal room. It gave us the chance to see the celebrities with several professionals before the final partnerships were revealed, and made much more sense than pretending the pairings are all a lovely surprise. We know decisions have been made behind the scenes based on things like height, personalities and potential chemistry. It was interesting to see some of that process played out on screen.
As for the celebrities, I knew more of them than I initially thought. The crowd’s reaction when they were introduced could best be described as mild, but that happens every year. Within a couple of weeks we’ll have completely forgotten that we didn’t know who half of them were.
My entirely unscientific early favourite is Jaime Winstone. I can’t give you a sensible reason yet, but paired with Carlos she has the potential to be brilliant, chaotic or both. I’m also really pleased that Amy Dowden seems to have been given what could be a good partner in Chris Appleton. I still think it’s such a shame that she didn’t get to see her series through with JB Gill when the foot injury forced her to leave, so hopefully this one goes well for her. People are already saying that Dani and Nikita have an unfair advantage because they were paired together last year, but Dani fractured her ankle before they even reached the first live show. It’s hardly as though she’s been having secret lessons with Nikita for the past twelve months. Lacey and Vito are definitely ones to watch, as are Delta and Kai. He’ll love having her height for the ballroom and I’m hoping she brings out more of his cheeky side. Finally, Will and Dianne look like another promising pairing. I genuinely thought she wouldn’t have a celebrity this year after returning from maternity leave and getting her own slot on It Takes Two, but this feels like a good one for her. Definitely better than Stefan last year.
Then there’s Neil. No celebrity partner again. He joined Strictly in 2016 and, in eleven series, has only been partnered with three celebrities: Alex Scott, Nina Wadia and Toyah Willcox. I wish somebody would confirm whether this is his choice because he wants to concentrate on the choreography and group numbers, or whether it’s a production decision because he’s pissed somebody off somewhere. He always seems to be front and centre, but hardly ever gets to be the professional dancer. There has to be a story there, surely?
I’m already missing Karen and I think it will take a while to get used to the new professionals, although their dancing credentials clearly aren’t in question. Mark Karmalita is giving me AJ Pritchard vibes, which is not necessarily a compliment.
My only real complaint is that we didn’t find out what everybody will be dancing in Week One. The launch show was filmed a couple of weeks ago, so they’ve already had a decent amount of training time. Give us the dances and songs so we can start making wildly premature predictions.
Still, the pairings are done, the glitterball is back and we survived the first night of the new Strictly era. It’ll be fine. Emma will hold it together.
