Strictly: New hosts explain their roles as they reject 'roving presenter' reports

Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have said they will not have "fixed roles" on Strictly Come Dancing, as they prepare to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman later this month.

Daly and Winkleman left the programme together at the end of the 2025 series.

Daly was the host on the dancefloor, introducing the dancers and judges, while Winkleman did the post-dance debrief upstairs in the "Clauditorium".

"No one's replacing anybody - at the minute it's all very kind of open," Willis told Richard Osman on The Rest is Entertainment podcast.

They also scotched reports of Radebe having a "roving reporter" role on the show, with Willis saying: "There's definitely no backstage roving reporter, which is what has been reported quite a bit."

Widdicombe added that they would "be like Total Football" [where players can take the role of anyone on the team], adding: "We're going to be moving everywhere".

Radebe added he will definitely be doing "a little bit of prying and finding out the truth", having been a professional dancer on the show, with the advantage of knowing everyone on it really well already.

He called his new role "very, very exciting," although he admitted he felt a "little bit of a tinge" of FOMO [fear of missing out] at seeing the pros in rehearsals.

They also added that the plan to put the three of them together was a "wild card decision" by producers, which took them all by surprise.

Willis explained the audition process, saying they had to do a "chemistry test" to see how they interacted as a group.

She said they were told: "This is the last one and this is a wild card. We're just like, 'What happens if we do three?'

"And they said, 'It's so much of a wild card, we don't really have a script for you either.

"'So we're going to sit down, get it up on the screen and we'll have a little tinker all together'."

Willis called the hiring process "the most cloak and dagger thing" she has ever seen, saying it took about four months in total and that the chemistry test was "terrifying, but so brilliant".

Widdecombe added that it was all so secretive that he had to tell his taxi driver he was testing for a show called The Great Garden Glow Up, if he was asked.

They all joked about how the three of them appear as a group, with Osman saying to Willis: "You and Johannes look good together."

Widdecombe responded: " Do you know what I have realised? It's difficult when you're paired with two of the most striking people on television."

Osman then quipped: "You do look a bit like a competition winner," to which Widdecombe agreed.

Radebe also admitted he will "struggle" with having to be impartial now he is not longer competing.

Osman asked him if the gloves would be off should the judges get overly critical of the new crop of contestants, and the dancer joked he was "waiting for that judges' debrief".

The show is returning with 15 celebrities competing for the glitterball trophy, including Australian singer Delta Goodrem, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips, actresses Lacey Turner and Jaime Winstone and Team GB skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker.

Judges Shirley Ballas, Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke are also back for the new series, which starts on Saturday 19 September.

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