Strictly Come Dancing fans praise "fantastic" new hosts as Emma Willis "steals the show"

After a seemingly endless wait, Strictly Come Dancing finally returned to the BBC on Saturday (19 September) night, and viewers were certainly thrilled with the new hosting line-up.

Following the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman last year, Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe have stepped into the almighty role - and have gotten off to a great start.

As the 24th season of the long-running series kicked off, this year's celebrities showed off their impressive fake tans and sequin attire as Love Is Blind host Emma took the reins and proved why she was the right choice for the job.

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Dressed in a stunning sequin dress, Emma wore her dark hair slicked back, while comedian Josh looked suave in a black suit. Johannes, who is used to being on the dance floor as one of the professionals, was dressed in a sexy black satin shirt and low-cut white vest.

Taking to X, Strictly fans tuning in at home were quick to share their thoughts on the new hosting line-up, with one writing: "So far Johannes, Emma and Josh are doing a fantastic job, I must say! Johannes more of a natural at presenting than I thought he would be!"

"Huge congratulations Emma Willis you would have thought she had been hosting four years. She's a natural," opined a second viewer, and a third person noted: "As much as I love Jojo, Emma is still stealing the show so far."

It wasn't to everybody's liking, however, as some fans admitted that the new hosting format would "take some getting used to" after the series had always opted for a double act in years gone by.

But regardless, the trio appeared to be having a whale of a time as they paired this year's celebrities with their professional partners, and even got the chance to take part in the pre-recorded launch show group dance.

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Appearing on The One Show earlier this week alongside Josh and Johannes, Emma revealed that the three hosts had to perform a dance themselves, with Johannes giving them lessons to prepare for it.

"It was terrifying wasn't it?" Emma said, to which Johannes, replied: "Oh, it was the easy part." Josh then revealed that they "had to do this with all the judges", and he even got some advice from Shirley Ballas.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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Kirsty is a freelance writer and editor specialising in all things entertainment. Over the past 16 years, she has worked on showbiz desks at various national newspaper websites in London, including Express.co.uk, The Sun, and MailOnline.

More recently, she spent three years living in New York City writing celebrity and lifestyle news for DailyMail.com, The Mirror US, and Daily Express US. Kirsty graduated from Southampton Solent with a BA in Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing. When she's not watching reruns of Sex and the City, you'll find her listening to David Bowie and daydreaming about an espresso martini.