Strictly Come Dancing has made another major change to the BBC programme, scrapping the segment where celebrities introduce their friends and family members in the audience, after viewers slammed the new presenting lineup.
The change comes after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced they were quitting their roles last year. Extensive chemistry tests were conducted to select their replacements, but fans reckon they were a waste of time. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe were chosen as the new hosting trio, but that was not the only alteration to the show.
Spin-off changes and axed dancers
Over at spin-off show It Takes Two, Ellie Taylor was announced as presenter, and several professional dancers were axed despite dedicating years of their lives to the programme.
Despite the backlash to the new presenters, Strictly has now gone ahead and made another big change. Now the celebrities no longer point out which of their friends and family members are sitting in the audience.
Viewer reactions
An eagle-eyed Reddit user pointed out: “Anyone know why most of the contestants' guests weren’t introduced in the Clauditorium?”, referring to the upstairs part of the set where celebs are grilled after their dances.
They said: “We saw a lot of family and friends etc in the audience today, but then we never heard from the celebs who they were? I used to really enjoy this bit as we’d see family and friends emotional etc.”
But someone else pointed out: “Claudia didn’t introduce all guests either, for example, she never said anything about the Mitchells when Robert Webb was on the show.”
Time constraints and limited chat
Another argued: “Time factor. There will be more room for chatting when there are fewer couples.”
The original poster hit back: “But [Johannes] kept asking the pro how proud they were of their celeb. Obviously they’re all proud of their celebs, they’re hardly going to say they’re not proud are they. Felt like that limited time could have been better spent.”
Someone else moaned: “JoJo was on a loop with just six words – ‘My darling, how did that feel?’ I don’t think asking about guests was on the agenda for him today.”
And a different fan said: “JoJo mentioned Chris' kids in the audience but other than that I can't remember others. As another person said, I think JoJo was just trying to get through the night without improving too much.”
