Strictly Come Dancing's Johannes Radebe speaks out on what exactly the "Clauditorium" is called now

It's been all change on Strictly Come Dancing this year, most notably including the arrival of new hosts Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdecombe. Johannes, for one, has taken over Claudia Winkleman's job of chatting to the competitors in the immediate aftermath of their performances as they receive the judges' scores.

The area he's positioned in – up a flight up stairs in the corner of the ballroom – was previously called "the Clauditorium". But what are we to call it now?

It Takes Two host Ellie Taylor put that exact question to him tonight (22 October), giving him potential options such as "the Johannexe", "the Johannesphere" and "JoJo's Dojo".

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Johannes replied: "Every single one of those has got a lovely ring to them!"

He recalled having "The Penthouse" pitched to him, adding: "I was like, 'hmmm. I think that's lovely'."

Ellie agreed, saying "you give Penthouse vibes", to which Johannes said: "I just think sometimes it feels like a very busy establishment, and with very high emotions, and I'm just the receptionist. Do you know what I mean?"

While we all weigh up whether The Penthouse will stick, Johannes also spoke out on the "nerve-wracking" nature of his new job, after previously working on the show as a professional dancer.

"I am living my best life. Listen, it's been wonderful, my darling. Really really wonderful. But I'm not gonna deny the fact that it's nerve-wracking," he said. "Hats [off] to people who do presenting. Two and a half hours of live TV is no child's play."

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Johannes continued: "But it's been lovely. I think what's been lovely is the love and support that I've got around me. Having to work with Emma and Josh, who've been so kind and held my hand through this experience, I have to say thank you to them because I don't know how I would have done that."

Pressed on his favourite part of the gig, he mused: "It's receiving [the couples] after the judges' comments.

"I don't look at their performance, I consider everything they've been through that week. And what I want to do is I want them to feel seen and celebrated in that moment. I wanna say to them, 'you've achieved something this week. Let's celebrate that.' It's a real privilege."

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.

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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online, specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who'll listen.