Emma Willis has opened up about being compared to Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as she prepares to front Strictly Come Dancing alongside Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe. The BBC dancing competition returns on Saturday (September 18) without its former hosts, who left the show after the 2025 series finale.
Emma, who has previously hosted The Voice, Big Brother, The Circle and Love Is Blind, told the Press Association she is ready for the inevitable comparisons. “I’m ready for the comparisons. I am ready for the negative opinions that can come with these things, but on the flip side, there are always positives as well,” she said.
‘We aren’t reinventing the wheel’
Emma acknowledged the pressure of stepping into the role, saying: “There’s obviously a kind of fear that comes with it because of the enormity of it, and you have nerves about being good enough to kind of do the job and step into the role.” But she stressed the show’s purpose: “We aren’t reinventing the wheel, and we’re not rocket scientists. We are working on an entertainment show about dancing that is meant to hopefully bring joy to everybody watching it. So hopefully we can be a small part of that joy and have a really lovely time doing it.”
Josh echoed that sentiment, saying they are not aiming to ‘reinvent the show’ and will simply ‘be ourselves and our personalities will be there’.
Advice from Tess and Claudia
Johannes, who is moving from dancing to presenting, revealed that Tess and Claudia had reached out with words of advice. “They reached out and wished us well for the season ahead and reminded us just to enjoy it. It felt like we got approval from older sisters,” he recalled.
Tess first presented the series with Sir Bruce Forsyth when it launched in 2004, while Claudia fronted It Takes Two before moving to the Sunday results show and joining the main show from 2014 after Sir Bruce stepped down.
New lineup and contestants
The celebrity contestants this season include Dani Dyer-Bowen, Melanie Walters, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Delta Goodrem, Lacey Turner, Chris Appleton, Cach Mercer, Will Best, Dame Sarah Storey, Jaime Winstone, Bethany Antonia, Graeme Hall, Lawrence Robb, Tabby Stoecker and John Nellis.
Alongside Johannes’ move to presenting, pro dancers Karen Hauer, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, Michelle Tsiakkas and Gorka Marquez have left the series. Five new professionals are joining: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita.
