Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan has issued four key words of advice to the stars of the 2026 series ahead of the first live show: "Turn up on time."
The 15 new couples are set to perform their first live dance during Saturday's show (September 26), following the launch episode of the hit BBC programme last week. That episode saw new hosts Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe present their first show, while the celebrity and professional dancer partnerships were revealed.
Partnerships revealed
Love Island winner Dani Dyer reunited with Nikita Kuzmin, who she was partnered with last year before she was forced to pull out due to injury. The show also saw the third all-female pairing in Strictly history, with Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu dancing together.
Other couples performing include actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu, soap star Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola, Gavin And Stacey actress Melanie Walters and Aljaz Skorjanec, singer Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington, and former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon. Also taking part on Saturday night are reality TV star Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby, celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr, skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita, and social media's John Nellis and Katya Jones.
James Jordan's advice
James, 48, who danced on the show from 2006 to 2013, spoke exclusively to WhichBingo ahead of the first live show. Asked what advice he would give the celebrities from a pro, he simply said: "Turn up on time."
He continued: "Don't leave your pro waiting, because generally your pro has travelled two hours or sometimes more to get to you. Be respectful for their time."
"Obviously, there's some celebrities that after a few weeks of dancing with you suddenly think they're a professional dancer and start trying to tell you how to choreograph and things like that. I know lots of professionals that have had issues with that. Listen to your professional. They are trying to help you as much as they can."
Advice for the pros
James also offered guidance for the professional dancers: "For the pros, a sign of a good professional is when their teaching adjusts to what's in front of them. You have to adjust to your celebrity if they're timid and everything. You want to nurture them a little bit and get the best out of them."
"If you've got someone that's a really strong character, you can push them really hard and get them to work. You want them to enjoy their Strictly experience, not destroy them because of the way you want to teach. That's ridiculous."
James was also asked if he thinks the judging has become more lenient over the years, to which he responded: "Definitely. It's not even necessarily the scoring, just what they say, because everyone gets offended by everything now, don't they? It's not saying anything personally about you. It's just saying he doesn't like your cha-cha. Does it matter? Not really. I think everyone's become too precious in the world. I used to love when Craig was much more harsh."
He added: "You need that light and shade on the panel where you've got Craig being the panto villain. But don't say it was bad and then finish by saying 'but I love you both.' It kind of dilutes the meaning."
