Former Strictly Come Dancing boss delivers verdict on presenter trio – and takes issue with Josh Widdicombe role

Strictly Come Dancing returned with its revamped series last month, featuring a whole raft of changes – including a launch show format change, five new professional dancers and a trio of hosts.

Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe were announced earlier this year as the new presenters of Strictly, replacing Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, and viewers have been divided over the new approach.

The first two live shows have seen Willis and Widdicombe on the ballroom floor, speaking to the pairs as they finish their dances, get their feedback and occasionally joke around with the judges, while Radebe is up in the auditorium speaking to the celebrities and dancers before they receive their scores.

Gareth Davies, a former senior TV producer at the BBC who helped develop and launch Strictly when it first premiered, has now delivered his verdict, saying: "We've got Emma, Josh and Johannes. I think Emma looks like she belongs there, I think she's been a great choice.

"Johannes upstairs I think hasn't yet come into his own. As producers, it's our job to help talent find their voice, develop their style and own their content. And I feel like he's giving us a slightly watered down version of what Claudia used to do, rather than actually leaning into perhaps his expertise as a dancer and finding his own way with that. It all feels very quiet upstairs."

He continued: "Josh downstairs with Emma, it feels like there's not a lot of room for two hosts with the four judges and the dancing duo next to them. I feel like it's a hard job for [Josh] to have. He's been put there like the everyman, the funny man, but actually there's not a lot of room for him to be funny there.

"So I think the producers really need to now solidify the role of Johannes, the role of Josh and also visually, I think they need to look more like a trio in how they're dressed. They need to pull their look together."

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Speaking of working with the past presenters, Davies continued: "I did it back in the day with Sir Bruce [Forsyth] and Tess. Bruce was very much the personification of the show, the song and dance man. Tess was more the entertainment presenter.

"Then obviously we had Claudia and Tess… different kind of duo, and we had two women presenting the show. Interestingly it felt new and fresh back then. Traditionally it was a male and a female. Claudia really came into her own upstairs."

Last weekend, the first celebrity left the dancing competition as the public got their first chance to vote.

The celebrities and their partners tackled movie week, marking the first time all celebrities got to take part in a themed week before the eliminations began.

Unfortunately for Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden and Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu, they faced the dreaded dance-off, where they both had to perform their routines again for the judges, who delivered their verdicts and all chose to save Jaime and Carlos, meaning Chris was eliminated.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 10 October at 6:15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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