Strictly Come Dancing’s class of 2026 has been called the weakest line-up in the show’s history – and now incoming host Emma Willis has admitted that even she hadn’t heard of some of the stars involved.
The BBC’s flagship entertainment show is back on our screens this month, with 15 new celebrities preparing to lock in and learn how to perform ballroom and latin dance from their professional partners.
But as the line-up was unveiled this summer, viewers were quick to criticise the calibre of star involved – particularly when it comes to the male contestants such as football influencer John Nellis, celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton and dog trainer Graeme Hall.
And speaking ahead of the series’ launch, presenter Willis, who will be hosting the new series along with comedian Josh Widdicombe and dancer Johannes Radebe, revealed that she hadn’t known all of the contestants either.
“There are a couple I haven’t heard of,” the former Big Brother host, 50, told The Times, adding: “But then I looked and was like, oh, a football guy, that isn’t really my bag.”
“It’s good we’re bringing people in. We need to take into consideration there are so many different mediums now and you’ve got to appeal to multi-generations. If it was all people maybe our generation knew, then kids would be like, ‘I don’t know who they are.’”
In recent years, Strictly has enlisted a number of social media stars to the show, such as Joe Sugg, Saffron Barker and George Clarke, the latter of whom reached the final in 2025.
Talking about Clarke, Willis continued: “I remember… whatshisname… George? I didn’t know who he was, but my God he was phenomenal. It’s the same every year.”
Strictly 2026 is seeing a major revamp, following the departure of long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Not only are Radebe, Widdicombe and Willis now presenting, but a number of fan-favourite professional dancers did not have their contracts renewed, with five new pros joining the cast in their place.
While it’s not known how the trio of presenters will work together when the show returns with its launch show on 19 September and first live show the following week, they have shut down a major rumour that each would be taking over a specific role from Daly and Winkleman.
“There’s no like for like, so no one’s kind of replacing anybody and at the minute it’s all very kind of open, isn’t it?” said Willis on The Rest Is Entertainment.
“We’re having lots of production days where we go in and we play around and we’re kind of feeling each other out, well, they’re feeling us out really.”
One thing that has been decided is that “there’s definitely no backstage roving reporter, which has been reported quite a bit”, she added.
“Where did that come from? I want to know,” said Radebe, who had been widely touted for the backstage role.
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