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So… it’s finally arrived: judgement day for Strictly Come Dancing 2.0. The departure of beloved hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman was always going to be a monumental shift at the BBC series. It’s not just the new presenters – Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe – that signal a new era for the show. Between fan favourite pros getting the boot, a new online companion show and even changes to the pairing process, this is the biggest shake-up Strictly has experienced since Ed Balls’ “Gangnam Style” salsa.
While viewers were technically given a glimpse of these changes during last Saturday’s pre-recorded launch show, everyone knew that the first live show would be the real test. Would the show maintain its sparkle given the lack of major stars among the cast? Would the audience take to the new dancers? And when it came to the new presenters, would three prove to be a crowd?
I’d say “yes” to all. Lots has been written about Strictly gaining an extra presenter, but any judgement up until Saturday has always been theoretical. It was hard to imagine how the show would work, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. Actually, this could have been an opportunity to mix up the format and accommodate three hosts with distinct roles. But instead, we saw what was long speculated: Radebe doing the post-dance debrief in what was once called the Clauditorium (the Johann-arena?) while Widdicombe and Willis stayed on the dance floor, splitting one role into two for no apparent reason.
The former, for the most part, worked – I mean, it was always going to. A former Strictly pro himself, Radebe could soften harsh critique from the judges and offer his own dancer’s judgement on their routines. He’s clearly beloved by the other pros, all of whom were visibly ecstatic to see their “Jojo” get the top job. Some timing issues will need ironing out, as the beginning of Radebe’s links were repeatedly missed while the contestants legged it up the stairs, but the man’s got charm by the bucketful. Despite all the insistence that the new presenters were not directly taking over from either of their predecessors, he felt like a perfect Winkleman replacement.
Down on the dance floor, things were less smooth sailing. On paper, I can understand the impulse to cast Willis and Widdicombe as a duo. She is the consummate presenting professional setting up the jokes, he the cheeky chappy landing the punchline. It worked for Daly and Winkleman, and in the scripted portions of Saturday, it worked here too. But while Winkleman is a very funny person, and a funny presenter, she’s not a comedian, and that’s the problem Widdicombe was facing..
As soon as he and Willis strayed from the script – usually while they were comforting the contestants post-dance – things started to go haywire for the comic. Ultimately, I put it down to strong comedic impulses preventing him from being a good presenter. Whether he was talking over Willis (this happened a lot), clapping back at Shirley Ballas or trying to cover up Will Best’s nipples, Widdicombe was constantly “yes and”-ing. This gag-at-all-costs attitude works for comedy or even solo presenting, but in a group, it felt awkward and stilted.
Despite this, the opening show appeared to be operating as normal. Sure, the new logo and opening credits looked strangely amateurish, and I’m not sure anyone asked for Movie Week to be bumped forward to week two, as was announced at the end of the episode. But the things that have always worked on Strictly worked, from the public quickly seeing promise in the new pros (Maddie Ingoldsby, Mark Karmalita) to a likeable new underdog already being crowned (YouTube star John Nellis, with an astonishingly impressive week one foxtrot).
Still, Strictly is a show that makes judges of us all, and it’s the presenters people are absolutely going to be talking about. The trio have previously said that they’ll all be trying out different roles throughout the series – while Radebe seems made to fill Winkleman’s shoes, maybe Widdicombe would do better in the more casual spot away from the main stage. But that doesn’t help the feeling that he is a problem the show needs to solve. Like many fans, I hoped the first episode would give an answer to the obvious question: why three? 15 dances later, I’m still none the wiser.
