Ellie Taylor has been confirmed as the new host of Strictly Come Dancing's companion show It Takes Two. The BBC announced the news on August 15 live on Emma Willis' Radio 2 show, with Ellie admitting she felt "giddy" about the presenting gig, which she takes over from Fleur East and Janette Manrara.
Ellie's reaction and what to expect
"I'm absolutely over the moon," Ellie told Emma live on-air. "It's so nice to get the secret out though!"
The weekly show takes viewers behind the scenes of Strictly, offering access to the couples' training sessions as well as sit-down interviews with them, plus chats with the creatives that make the show tick, such as costume designer Vicky Gill.
New for 2026, the show will bring together groups of the celebrities and the professionals separately for a chat without their partners. There will also be a new panel of past Strictly stars on hand to provide insight into the weekend's show.
Who is Ellie Taylor?
Ellie, 42, is a comedian, author, actor and TV presenter with a plethora of credits to her name. Alongside stand-up tours, she has also appeared in hit shows such as Apple TV's Ted Lasso as Flo 'Sassy' Collins, and in comedy series Plebs as Gloria.
She started out in comedy in 2009 while juggling a job in marketing. Her very first comedy gig was at an open mic night which she told Stylist Magazine "led to my whole career." Her early TV appearances were recurring slots on Mock The Week and The Mash Report.
In 2022, she released a memoir about her motherhood experience titled My Child and Other Mistakes: How to Ruin Your Life in the Best Possible Way, which became a Sunday Times bestseller.
Ellie's Strictly past and husband
Ellie will already be a familiar face to Strictly Come Dancing fans as she participated in the main show as a contestant back in 2022. She was partnered with professional dancer Johannes Radebe.
The duo famously performed a tango to the Casualty theme song. They played the roles of A&E doctors trying to resuscitate a dummy patient who they had diagnosed with "tango fever." Sadly she didn't get a chance to lift the Glitterball Trophy as she was voted out by the judges following a dance-off against singer Fleur East. The class of 2022 also featured the likes of James Bye, Kym Marsh and Helen Skelton.
Ellie has been married to Phil Black since 2014, and the pair tied the knot in an intimate London ceremony. He is a former CNN international news reporter and was based in Moscow for a time as their Russia correspondent.
The pair first crossed paths in the lift of an office building they both worked in. She remembered the moment during a 2016 appearance on Live At The Apollo in which she quipped: "Hot guy gets in the lift and presses level one. We’re only on the ground floor, he’s only going up one level, lazy... Hot guy puts out his hand to introduce himself and says, ‘Hi, I’m Phil’, and six years later I married him." In a later interview with the Daily Express she confirmed the story was "all true", adding, "Sometimes life is helpful for coming up with material."
Strictly Come Dancing returns in September this year to BBC One and iPlayer with the exact release date yet to be announced.
