Even Strictly’s new main presenter Emma Willis has admitted she’s never heard of some of the famous contestants on the 2026 series.
The BBC’s flagship show has been panned by fans for what is widely regarded as the weakest line-up in the show’s 22-year history.
Insiders have revealed bosses are desperate to appeal to a new, younger generation of viewers, bringing in social media stars and pushing out professional dancers who don’t have a bulging following.
And now Emma, one of three new presenters replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, has admitted she struggled to place some of the new crop of celebrities.
“There are a few I’ve never heard of,” she said The Sunday Times stylebefore covering herself by pointing out “but then I looked and thought, oh, a football man, that’s not really my bag.”
‘It’s good that we involve people. We have to take into account that there are so many different media now and that you have to appeal to multiple generations,” Emma continued.
Even Strictly’s new main presenter Emma Willis has admitted she’s never heard of some of the famous contestants on the 2026 series
The BBC’s flagship show has been panned by fans for what is widely regarded as the weakest line-up in the show’s 22-year history
“If it was all the people our generation might have known, kids would say, ‘I don’t know who they are.’
Referring to last year’s runner-up, 26-year-old YouTuber George Clarke, she added: ‘I didn’t know who he was, but my God, he was phenomenal. It’s the same every year.’
This year’s line-up includes sports YouTube star John Nellis, dog trainer Graeme ‘The Dogfather’ Hall and Kim Kardashian’s hairstylist Chris Appleton.
Four years ago, Emma revealed she was close to being signed up as a contestant, and was even able to do a one-day test by dancing with her husband, Busted star Matt Willis, as producers vied to pit the couple against each other.
Ultimately, their busy schedules didn’t allow the presenters to take part, but four years later, and after a grueling audition process that saw her beat the likes of Zoe Ball, Emma is now one of the new presenters alongside comedian Josh Widdicombe and dancer Johannes Radebe.
Insiders have previously revealed that the broadcaster has a casting strategy in place as part of its Strictly overhaul and has been deliberate in targeting celebrities with large social media followings in a ploy to attract younger viewers to the show.
It has been suggested that this is a similar, hugely successful social media strategy employed by US counterpart Dancing With The Stars.
Celebrities like Chris Appleton, Kim Kardashian’s hairstylist, may not be household names, but he has a huge social media following with 4 million fans on Instagram.
Emma, one of a trio of new presenters replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, has admitted she struggled to place some of the new crop of celebrities. Pictured with Josh WIddicombe and Johannes Radebe
Sports YouTuber John Nellis has an even bigger fan base, with 15.7 million YouTube subscribers.
Dancing With The Stars has used their celebrity contestants’ following to their advantage by introducing a TikTok Night last year – an episode in which the contestants performed viral dance routines, leading to an increase in interaction from younger viewers.
The Dancing With The Stars TikTok account now has more than 5 million followers, compared to Strictly’s 670,000.
And even before this year’s Strictly line-up was announced, professional dancers fell victim to the same strategy. In recent months, popular dancers Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Michelle Tsiakkas, Luba Mushtuk and Gorka Marquez have all made the move.
It’s clear that professionals with a larger online following have been chosen over dancers who aren’t as TikTok-friendly, as the series desperately tries to attract a younger audience.
An example appears to be the axed Bychkova, who has 214,000 Insta followers, while Dianne Buswell, with 1.2 million Instagram followers and 973,000 on TikTok, has retained her place in the line-up.
Meanwhile, five new young professionals have been recruited, including ballroom champion Maddie Ingoldsby, who has 364,000 TikTok followers.
The trio of new hosts also have a strong online presence. Comedian Josh has more than half a million Instagram followers on his personal account, while the Insta page for his hugely popular podcast Parenting Hell has 250,000.
Emma has 2 million Instagram followers and fan-favorite dancer Johannes has 458,000 followers.
The insider has explained that the BBC is struggling to attract big celebrities these days as the landscape has changed.
The source told The Sun: ‘Crucially, the pipeline that used to feed these big shows has changed.
“Boy band and girl band stars are not as common anymore and it was once a huge task to get someone out of a soap or a big drama, but now even that has diminished somewhat.
‘But now social media continues to grow and major stars from the world of TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are known to a large part of society.’
