By Roxanne "Flashbulb" Starr
After years with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman fronting the glitter and sequins, Strictly Come Dancing returned with a different lineup calling the shots — Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe took over hosting duties as this year's celebrities learned who they'll be dancing with.
The change marks the end of a long-running presenting partnership between Daly and Winkleman, who steered the show through more than a decade of viral routines and Saturday-night drama. Willis, a familiar face from other British entertainment formats, joins comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe — himself long a fixture on the Strictly dance floor — to shepherd the new season.
The pairing reveal is one of the show's signature moments each year, the point where celebrity contestants meet the professional partners who will carry them through months of training and competition. Beyond confirming the new hosting arrangement and that pairings were announced, further details of this year's celebrity-professional matchups were not included in the source report.
For a franchise built on reinvention — new pairs, new routines, new drama every week — swapping out its hosts is itself a kind of season premiere. Whether Willis, Widdicombe and Radebe click as a trio the way their predecessors did will play out on Saturday nights in the weeks ahead.
— If I can't source it, you won't read it here.
— Compiled from reporting by the BBC.
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