Emma Willis: Stars paired up in way ‘never done before’ in Strictly launch show

Emma Willis teased that the celebrities will be paired with their partners in a way that has “never been done before” during the Strictly Come Dancing launch show.The TV presenter, 50, is among the new hosts of the BBC dancing competition, joined by former Strictly professional dancer Johannes Radebe and comedian Josh Widdicombe.The group are taking over from long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman who stepped down last year, and will make their Strictly debut as the new series launches this weekend.Emma Willis is among the new Strictly hosts (Jonathan Brady/PA)PA WireWillis has teased how “exciting” the first episode will be while appearing alongside her new co-hosts on BBC One’s The One Show.“This is something that they’ve never done on the show before.“Everybody is paired during a dance,” she said.The celebrities will meet their professional partners for the first time on the dancefloor, rather than during a pre-recorded video, as the show returns to a format similar to how it operated before Covid.Willis said: “There’s a lot of movement.“We’ll all be there, and we’ll put a song on.“They’ve all learnt a routine together.“They will dance, and then we’re stood at the side and we go: Change partners!“Then they all have to change, and they dance for maybe five seconds, and we’ll go ‘change partners’, then they might dance for 30 seconds and change partners.“They never know when that rotation is going to stop until we stop it and we tell them. It’s so entertaining, it’s really fun.”Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe are the new Strictly hosts (Guy Levy/BBC)PA MediaWillis, who has fronted other shows including Big Brother, The Voice, The Circle and Love Is Blind, added: “People tried to figure out who they were going to be with and they couldn’t. It was great.”Radebe, 39, joked that he is “so glad” he changed roles from a professional dancer to a host, as he reflected on the difficulty of the routine in the launch show.“It’s a lot of work, and it’s something that’s never been done before,” he said.“I can imagine what they were going through because normally you’ll just be paired up for the launch show and that’s it. A small dance at the end, and then we call it quits.”Meanwhile his co-star Widdicombe discussed the pressures of stepping up to host the programme, saying he has been “living in a ball of fear” in the build-up to the new series.The 43-year-old said: “It’s nerve-wracking because it feels like we’ve been waiting for so long to do this and for this to go out.Read More“But since we’ve done the launch show, I just want people to see it. We loved it and we had the best time.”A general view of the celebrity contestants who will compete in the upcoming series of BBC One dancing contest, Strictly Come Dancing (Ray Burmiston/BBC/PA)PA MediaStrictly will return on Saturday September 19 to BBC One and iPlayer.The celebrity contestants this season include former Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen, actress Melanie Walters, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and Australian singer Delta Goodrem.They will be joined by actress Lacey Turner, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, Love Island winner Cach Mercer, presenter Will Best, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, actress Jaime Winstone, actress Bethany Antonia, dog trainer and presenter Graeme “The Dogfather” Hall, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb, Olympian Tabby Stoecker and sports content creator John Nellis.The BBC has also confirmed five new professional dancers are joining the show this year: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita.