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

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Cite

Feric, C. (2026, September 17). Emma Willis: Stars paired up in way ‘never done before’ in Strictly launch show. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/johannes-radebe-bbc-one-emma-willis-tess-daly-people-b1297406.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-17 · by Carla Feric analysis

Quick Summary

Emma Willis, co-host of Strictly Come Dancing, revealed that for the first time in the show's history, celebrities will meet their professional dance partners on the dancefloor rather than through pre-recorded videos, creating an immediate and unpredictable pairing experience. This innovative format involves frequent partner changes during the opening performance, adding excitement and unpredictability to the launch episode. The article highlights the nervous anticipation of new hosts Ant & Dec as they prepare for the show's return after a pandemic-induced hiatus, alongside a lineup of 14 celebrity contestants and five new professional dancers joining this season.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

The articles discuss the 24th season launch of the British television dancing competition "Strictly Come Dancing." Here are key points from these articles:

This marks a significant change for Strictly as it introduces new hosts while maintaining its iconic format of pairing celebrities with professional dancers in ballroom dancing competitions.

Written for “Strictly 2026 Launch Show” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 9 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Strictly 2026 Launch Show
Entertainment · 10 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 8 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A describes the launch of a new spin-off show for Strictly Come Dancing, while Article B discusses the format changes and excitement for the main Strictly Come Dancing show's return.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the unique pairing method for the Strictly launch show where celebrities meet their professional partners during a group dance routine.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 24 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles describe the launch of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing on September 17, 2026, with the introduction of a new hosting trio and changes in how celebrities meet their dance partners.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 20 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss Emma Willis's new role as host of Strictly and the show's return to a pre-Covid format, Article A focuses on the announcement and setup for the first episode, while Article B reports on the actual event where celebrities meet their partners on the dancefloor.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 5 of 39 📰 publisher trust 64
“Article A describes the format and excitement of the Strictly Come Dancing launch, while Article B discusses the reception and ratings performance of a subsequent broadcast.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 52 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss changes to the Strictly Come Dancing show, they do not describe the exact same specific incident. Article A focuses on the format change revealed by Emma Willis during an appearance on The One Show, while Article B provides a general guide for the upcoming season including new hosts and dancers.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 15 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles discuss different aspects of Strictly's launch: Article A focuses on the new pairing format announced by Emma Willis, while Article B discusses Brendan Cole's critique of this year’s lineup of celebrities.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 52 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A describes details of how celebrities will meet their professional partners during the launch show, while Article B provides an overview of new hosts and judges for the entire series.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 8 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss the upcoming Strictly launch show and its changes, Article A focuses on Emma Willis' comments about the format change during a pre-launch interview, whereas Article B provides live updates and details of the actual event's lineup.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
10
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 5598 article(s) · 46 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 46 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Carla Feric
51 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “In a way, this is good news for the faithfuls because I was nowhere near getting Maya Jama and James Acaster – no chance.
🔮 Strictly Come Dancing star Will Best said he and partner Tobi Rose are “so lucky” as they welcome their first child together.
🔮 The new record will be released on November 27, and reimagines classic and contemporary chart-topping singles from the past eight decades.
🔮 We will treasure our memories forever.
🔮 The pop star, who returned to the stage in February 2026, told the magazine she had felt “severely burned out” during this period. “I was hoping that things would change.
🔮 Billy Crystal has reflected on the “profound” loss of his longtime friend and collaborator Rob Reiner, saying he knew their relationship would be “a forever thing” after their first week working together.
🔮 Delta Goodrem will ‘miss dancing’ as she skips Strictly week due to injury It was revealed on Monday that the Australian star would be unable to take to the ballroom floor this weekend after doctors had advised her to rest.
🔮 “I will remember the laughter, the rapture of pure joy in the loving moments we have shared.
🔮 Hiddleston has continued to portray the character in subsequent Marvel films and his own Disney+ series, and will also reprise the role in upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday.
🔮 You will be missed.
Also by Carla Feric
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 51 articles by Carla Feric →

Topics

Australian BBC BBC One’s England

Subjects

Willis PERSON · 2× Australian NORP · 1× BBC One’s ORG · 1× Covid GPE · 1× Dani Dyer-Bowen PERSON · 1× England GPE · 1× Melanie Walters PERSON · 1× Radebe PERSON · 1× Shaun Wright-Phillips PERSON · 1× Widdicombe PERSON · 1×

Narrative

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.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-19
🔮 Willis has teased how “exciting” the first episode will be while appearing alongside her new co-hosts on BBC One’s The One Show.
2026-09-19 · Evening Standard
Strictly champion Karen Carney returns to dancefloor with partner Carlos Gu · assertive framing

Claims (22 extracted, 1 hedged)

Willis has teased how “exciting” the first episode will be while appearing alongside her new co-hosts on BBC One’s The One Show. asserted
episode → tease → Show
“This is something that they’ve never done on the show before. asserted
they → do → show
“Everybody is paired during a dance,” she said. asserted
she → pair → dance
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. “ asserted
Willis → meet → movement
We’ll all be there, and we’ll put a song on. asserted
we → put → song
“They’ve all learnt a routine together. asserted
They → learn → routine
“The music will start. “ asserted
music → start → ?
They will dance, and then we’re stood at the side and we go: Change partners! asserted
we → dance → 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. uncertain
they → have → partners
“They never know when that rotation is going to stop until we stop it and we tell them. asserted
we → know → them
It’s so entertaining, it’s really fun.” asserted
it → ’ → ?
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. asserted
he → joke → show
“It’s a lot of work, and it’s something that’s never been done before,” he said. asserted
he → ’ → work
“I can imagine what they were going through because normally you’ll just be paired up for the launch show and that’s it. asserted
that → imagine → show
A small dance at the end, and then we call it quits.” asserted
we → call → it
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. asserted
he → discuss → 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. asserted
this → say → this
Read More “But since we’ve done the launch show, I just want people to see it. asserted
people → read → it
We loved it and we had the best time.” asserted
we → love → time
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. asserted
contestants → include → Bowen
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. asserted
They → join → Turner
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. asserted
dancers → confirm → show
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