Emma Willis says Strictly is a ‘genuine honour’ as new hosts open new series

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Cite

Cooper-Fiske, C. (2026, September 19). Emma Willis says Strictly is a ‘genuine honour’ as new hosts open new series. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/emma-willis-johannes-radebe-tess-daly-sarah-storey-bbc-b1297624.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 2026-09-19 · by Casey Cooper-Fiske

Quick Summary

Emma Willis has joined two other hosts for the new series of BBC’s "Strictly Come Dancing," replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. The first episode featured celebrity contestants meeting their dance partners on the floor for the first time, including Dani Dyer paired with Nikita Kuzmin for a second consecutive year. Willis expressed her excitement, calling it “a genuine honour,” as the show introduced its new judges and professional dancers while opening with an energetic performance by the professionals and hosts.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-19, 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 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 8 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the live launch show of the new Strictly Come Dancing series on September 19, 2026.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the launch show of the new series of Strictly in 2026, featuring the debut of new hosts and a unique way of pairing celebrities with their professional dance partners.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 50 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the exact same occurrence of Dani Dyer being paired with Nikita Kuzmin on Strictly Come Dancing's launch show in 2026, at the same time and place.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 24 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles describe the premiere of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing with the debut of the new hosting trio and introduction of celebrity contestants and their dance partners.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 15 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin being paired up again for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, with the second article focusing on Kuzmin's emotional reaction to their reunion.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 15 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin being paired up again on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, with the second article providing more detail about Kuzmin's emotional reaction.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 22 📰 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.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 1 of 10 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different aspects of the transition period for BBC Radio 2's show and the start of a new series of Strictly; not the same specific incident.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 14 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different pairs in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, with Article A focusing on Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin while Article B highlights Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 9 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different parts of the same series premiere but focus on separate aspects, interviews with different participants.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 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
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-19 · 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 · 5592 article(s) · 46 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 46 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Casey Cooper-Fiske
55 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 During the competition the members would regularly “manifest” different things to encourage themselves, so when it came to choosing a name for the band they knew the word felt right.
🔮 During the competition the members would regularly “manifest” different things to encourage themselves, so when it came to choosing a name for the band they knew the word felt right.
🔮 Former editor-in-chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful has said he hopes Prime Minister Andy Burnham will “push the arts more” than his predecessors, similar to how Tony Blair’s New Labour had done in the 1990s.
🔮 Tilbrook told the Press Association: “It’s going to be very different to Trixies, and I sense this will be the bookends of our career, from what could have been our first album (Trixies was written in 1974) to what may be our last.
🔮 The 52-year-old will be given the title of Album Icon and see his 2000 studio album, Sing When You’re Winning, reissued on vinyl for the first time, for the event which takes place on October 17 and aims to celebrate and promote the art of the album.
🔮 The 43-year-old was murdered by the traitors, actor Richard E Grant and TV presenter Maya Jama, on Friday’s episode of the BBC reality game show, while comedian James Acaster was recruited to become the series’ third traitor.
🔮 Celebrity Traitors ends on cliffhanger after first murder and one new traitor The Celebrity Traitors has ended on a cliffhanger after journalist Amol Rajan was murdered by traitors Maya Jama and Richard E Grant, while comedian James Acaster was recruited to become the third traitor.
🔮 Journalist Amol Rajan was “murdered” by traitors Maya Jama and Richard E Grant as the second episode of The Celebrity Traitors began, while comedian James Acaster was recruited to become the third traitor.
🔮 The 47-year-old said that during his time on the show between 2001 and 2002 he was able to sing any song he wanted to, and added that the show had allowed him to be himself when the rest of the music industry would not.
🔮 After the gig, they were approached by the band’s singer Miles Hunt to ask if any of them could drive him to a hotel to help him disappear and avoid performing on the TV show.
Also by Casey Cooper-Fiske
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 55 articles by Casey Cooper-Fiske →

Topics

BBC Dame Paralympian

Subjects

Willis PERSON · 4× Kuzmin PERSON · 2× Radebe PERSON · 2× Widdicombe PERSON · 2× BBC ORG · 1× Claudia Winkleman PERSON · 1× Dani Dyer PERSON · 1× Dyer PERSON · 1× Nikita Kuzmin PERSON · 1× Tess Daly PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The trio have taken over from long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who stepped down last year, with the first episode of the new series of the BBC dancing programme showing the celebrity contestants meet their partners for the first time on the dancefloor, rather than in a separate video.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-19
🔮 Speaking during her introduction, Willis said: “It is our genuine honour to be here, and we cannot wait to spend the next 13 weeks with all of you.”
2026-09-19 · Evening Standard
Emma Willis says Strictly is a ‘genuine honour’ as new hosts open new series · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 0 hedged)

The trio have taken over from long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who stepped down last year, with the first episode of the new series of the BBC dancing programme showing the celebrity contestants meet their partners for the first time on the dancefloor, rather than in a separate video. asserted
contestants → take → video
Former Love Island winner Dani Dyer, who was forced to leave last year’s series due to injury, was among the first to be partnered as she was paired up with her former partner Nikita Kuzmin for a second time, the first time a pairing has competed in two series. asserted
pairing → force → series
After being paired with Kuzmin, Dyer said: “Honestly, I’m just over the moon, so, so happy.” asserted
I → pair → moon
Kuzmin added: “Same, I had, like generally tears of joy when that happened, and just to hear everybody’s cheer, hear the audience sing. asserted
audience → add → cheer
Dani’s so happy, I was honestly hoping this was going to happen, but you never know.” asserted
you → ’ → ?
Other early pairings included EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola; former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon; actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu; and Gavin And Stacey actress Melanie Walters and Aljaz Skorjanec. asserted
pairings → include → Turner
Speaking during her introduction, Willis said: “It is our genuine honour to be here, and we cannot wait to spend the next 13 weeks with all of you.” asserted
we → speak → you
Radebe added: “It’s a brand new year in the ballroom, which means 15 new celebrities, 15 new partnerships, and four people they’re going to be desperate to impress.” asserted
they → add → celebrities
Willis then said: “Ok, we need to do this bit justice. asserted
we → say → justice
The trio then collectively said: “Please welcome the judges.” asserted
trio → say → judges
Judge Craig Revel Horwood described them with his catchphrase: “Fabulous.” asserted
Horwood → describe → catchphrase
The launch show opened with a dance number from the professionals, judges and the new hosts. asserted
show → open → professionals
After introducing the show, Willis said: “Never in a million years did I ever think I would get to dance with Strictly pros.” asserted
I → introduce → pros
Radebe added: “And I definitely never thought it would be the three of us standing in the spot. asserted
it → add → spot
Widdicombe interjected: “No, I’ll be honest, not many people did, Johannes. asserted
people → interject → ?
“Why’s that got more of a laugh than I was hoping, but there we are, it’s a little bit overwhelming to be here, but we are so delighted. asserted
we → get → laugh
During the opening part of the launch show, the trio presented on the dancefloor and in the auditorium, which was nicknamed the “Clauditorium” during Winkleman’s time on the show, together. asserted
which → present → show
In the auditorium, Widdicombe told Dame Sarah that she was the first Dame to compete on Strictly, before joking: “Mary Berry pulled out at the last minute.” asserted
Berry → tell → minute
Five new professional dancers are also joining the show this year: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita. asserted
dancers → join → show
After the opening dance performance, Willis announced: “This is Strictly Come Dancing.” asserted
This → announce → performance
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