Richard Osman has weighed in on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, saying the current presenting format is "not going to work" going forward. The TV producer and author, known for creating Pointless and producing shows like Deal or No Deal, shared his verdict on the backlash surrounding the new hosts.
Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have stepped into the roles previously held by Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly. The unconventional three-person line-up has drawn criticism from some viewers, with Josh bearing the brunt of the backlash, being labelled "utterly useless" and a "spare part".
Osman and Hyde Analyse the New Format
Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment podcast with co-host Marina Hyde, Osman pinpointed an "impossible" problem with the new format. Hyde explained the difficulty of the role Emma has to perform after dancers finish their routines.
"The bit that Emma has to do when you've got two exhausted people come off from doing their dance," she said. "They have to sort of get their breath back, you have to have a bit of chit-chat with the judges, then the judges have to do their judging. I felt adding Josh in to do some jokes as well, it's quite complicated down there."
Johannes' Role and the Producers' Challenge
Osman noted that Johannes is currently doing "exactly what Claudia did" - being thrown to for talking points. He observed that Claudia excelled with this approach, but for Johannes, it doesn't reflect "who he is". As a trained dancer, Osman said Johannes offers "something else", and his distinctive contribution is yet to be found.
"At the moment, they're doing, 'You do exactly what Claudia did. We'll feed you these two bits of vanilla information, you talk to the dancer and the celebrity, and then you throw it back to Emma and Josh', but Johannes can't do anything with that," he said.
Osman speculated that "no producer" would be watching back thinking they'd "nailed" it. Regarding Emma and Josh, he reckons establishing the dual-presenter dynamic is proving "tricky".
"And writing for two people, one of whom is a comic and one of whom is not a comic, is sort of impossible," he said. "You know, that is sort of impossible. Now, when you're a producer, when you're making that show, you've got a billion different things to think about.
"So the first thing you do is, 'Okay, we'll put JoJo up there; we'll do what we used to with Claudia. We'll put Josh and Emma down there. We'll do what we used to do with Tess, right?' I think, probably, that's not going to work going forward."
Strictly professional Lauren Oakley has shown support for the new hosts, sharing an Instagram story that read: "We couldn't be in safer hands than with these beautiful people."
