Strictly Come Dancing 2026: Emma Willis labelled ‘perfect for show’ as new celebrity pairings revealed

That was a lot of fun, wasn’t it?

Given that tonight’s show was pre-recorded, it didn’t really give us a proper picture of how the new hosts will do. But I feel like they’re off to a good start! Emma Willis is undoubtedly doing the heavy lifting, but that makes sense as she is the presenter with the most experience.

At times, when the three of them were all together, it did feel a little crowded – but there is more than enough presenting to go around, so hopefully they manage to divvy up the jobs correctly.

And the pairings, as usual, seem very well matched. I think I’m most excited to see Nancy and Bethany as this year’s same-sex pairing, and I love Lacey and Vito already.

Here’s the full list…

• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu

• Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby

• Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden

• Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin

• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington

• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley

• Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu

• John Nellis and Katya Jones

• Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola

• Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał

• Melanie Walters and Aljaž Škorjanec

• Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon

• Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr

• Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita

• Will Best and Dianne Buswell.

Cach is with Maddie Ingoldsby – one of the five new pros in the ballroom this year.

Hailing from Bournemouth, the 21-year-old is a former child star who has appeared in the West End production of Annie.

Maddie has technically already made a Strictly debut of sorts too, as she popped up on It Takes Two last year, before going on to appear in a group dance in the Christmas special.

When it comes to dance accolades, Maddie has plenty: she’s the UK National Ballroom Champion and an eight-time Amateur 10-Dance World Champion, and has previously been crowned World Rising Star and Under 21 World Ballroom Champion. Not bad, eh?

• Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby
• Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden
• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley
• Will Best and Dianne Buswell
• John Nellis and Katya Jones.

Will and Dianne are a brilliant pairing. In our interview, Will said the professional he’d been paired with was the one who’d made him “cry with laughter” during the chemistry tests, and I reckon they’ll have a lot of fun in the training room.

Chris and Amy: Also love. Amy had both a short and tough time on the show last year, having been paired with Tom ‘Bosh’ Skinner. I really hope I’m not jinxing it but surely she’ll make it past the first dance-off this time around.

And if you don’t know who Graeme ‘The Dogfather’ Hall is, then shame on you: He’s a staple in my household. Not kidding. Graeme is best known for Channel 5’s Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, which is basically Supernanny for dogs. Don’t knock it until you’ve watched it, ok?

I do have to say, as much as I love the guy, Graeme has early exit written all over him… Who knows though! He might surprise us. Stranger things have happened…

We’re onto the final bit of launch show business now as we have just five celebrities left to be paired up.

They are: Cach Mercer, Chris Appleton, Graeme Hall, John Nellis and Will Best.

Awww, last year’s champ Karen is back!

They’re performing their Jive one more time, which is the first dance they ever performed together.

They then did the routine again in last year’s final (which feels like a lifetime ago?)…

The second of tonight’s three pairing dances revealed this year’s same-sex couple – and gave us a look at bookies’ favourite Lawrence Robb in action.

Tabby has been paired with Mark, one of the new pros.

Aged 23, Mark is a Latin champion, having twice been named National Latin Champion in his native Canada, as well as an Empire Dance US Latin Rising Star Champion.

And there we have it! The next five pairs are…

• Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr
• Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita
• Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał
• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington
• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu.

I am very excited for Bethany and Nancy.

Nancy hasn’t had a celebrity partner since the 2024 series so it’s lovely to see her in the spotlight again. And she’s such an amazing choreographer – I cannot wait to see what she pulls out of the bag for Bethany.

Emmerdale star Lawrence is one to watch too. He’s the bookies’ favourite.

As for Shaun – he’s good vibes, isn’t he? I interviewed Will Best the morning after this launch episode was filmed and he could not stop talking about how fun Shaun is to watch.

Ok, Bethany is going to be in a same-sex couple! That’s very exciting.