New Strictly Come Dancing contestant Will Best has been compared to rubber-faced Hollywood star Jim Carrey during the first rehearsals for the new series. The Hits Radio Breakfast Show host, who has never done ballroom dancing before, received some blunt feedback from the professional dancers about his moves and facial expressions.
Pros compare Best to Jim Carrey in The Mask
Best revealed that during the first dance masterclass, two female pros separately commented on his 'dancing face'. He said: "Two of the female pros commented on my ‘dancing face’, I didn’t realise that I dance more with my face than with my legs, and two of them separately and unprompted said ‘It’s like dancing with Jim Carrey in The Mask’. Two of them said the exact same thing!!"
Best, who also hosts Big Brother, shared how the first day on the BBC show went and how welcoming everyone was despite the Jim Carrey comparison. He told the Hits Radio Breakfast Show: "We had our first official day and it was really sweet. All the team, the producers did little speeches talking about how it’s a big family and everyone’s really nice and it did feel like that."
First day of ballroom dancing
Best said the first day was memorable despite the critique. He explained: "I learnt a lot about myself in terms of how I dance - it’s obviously the first day I’d done any ballroom dancing, and the pros were there and we were doing little dance masterclasses with them."
All the celebrities got to show off their best moves and then worked with different pro dancers, but Best is keeping his partner a secret for now. He described the process: "The male celebs would stand in a circle facing outwards and the female pros would dance with each of you really quickly for a few seconds, a few bars, and then they move on to the next person going round in these circles."
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this September for its new series. The launch show is recorded on September 9, with the broadcast expected to air mid-September 2026.
