WHILE millions of Strictly fans are excitedly waiting for the new presenting line-up, BBC bosses are having a “nightmare” behind-the-scenes and insiders think there’s one woman to blame: Claudia Winkleman.
For I can reveal that while bosses put the finishing touches to their presenters, they are struggling behind the scenes to book an A-list cast of celebrities to join the new hosts.
TV insiders say stars are now scrambling to land a spot on Claudia’s smash-hit Celebrity Traitors instead of signing up for Strictly Credit: BBC
With fan favourites Tess and Claudia quitting last October, Strictly bosses are now battling to land big-name stars for the ballroom Credit: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray Burmiston
Instead top showbiz agents are desperately trying to get their show on Claudia’s other juggernaut, The Celebrity Traitors.
A TV insider says: “It is the greatest of ironies that while Claudia is Strictly’s biggest champion, even after her departure, she is actually killing off the show.”
“Strictly bosses are struggling more than ever to book top talent since the success of the Celeb Traitors.”
“The bigger stars would rather spend a week in a castle with Claudia and its high viewing ratings, than a potential three months stint in the ballroom and a chance they could be caught up in one of Strictly’s many scandals.”
“It is all a bit of a nightmare and doesn’t bode well for the future of Strictly.”
It’s not just Strictly struggling to compete with Claudia’s Traitors, the celebrity-based TV show as we know it is dying.
In recent months we’ve seen shows including You Bet! and Dancing on Ice axed, while Celebrity Big Brother has been pushed back to 2026, meaning there’ll be a two year gap between the last series and the next.
Meanwhile even the recent series of Channel 4‘s SAS Who Dares Wins – which usually boasts a line-up of 14 British celebrities – featured seven stars, with the remaining seven made up of Australian names most of us would barely recognise.
Netflix‘s Celebrity Bear Hunt, which was a rip off of I’m A Celebrity….Get Me out of Here! with no less than a dozen big names celebs, was a hugely expensive disappointment that was axed last year after just one series.
Alison Hammond‘s Big Weekend on BBC One was also given the chop after one series, even though she got to feature a string of big celebrities. And only this week it was revealed that Kate Garraway‘s Life Stories is set to be axed by ITV.
What’s the problem? Industry insiders tell me that hosting famous people on a show – as contestants, judges or interviewees – just isn’t the novel ace card it was ten or 20 years ago.
Gone are the days when having a celebrity line up virtually guaranteed a ratings winner.
My contacts say that the problem is made all the more difficult by the fact that getting the right mix of celebs at an affordable price is now incredibly difficult.
And that’s where The Celebrity Traitors has been a huge disruptor.
The second series, which started filming last week, has attracted a long line up of stars ranging Michael Sheen and Ross Kemp to Jerry Hall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock.
But it isn’t just A-listers. There are celebs on there – Joanne McNally, James Acaster or Rob Beckett – who wouldn’t look amiss on shows like the jungle, I’m a Celebrity or SAS Who Dares Wins.
The Jattvibe revealed Emma Willis is set to front Strictly’s glam new era as BBC bosses prepare a huge backstage shake-up Credit: Getty
Strictly Pro Johannes Radebe is poised to join Emma Willis as part of the show’s new presenting line-up Credit: Alamy
A TV insider says: “Because this show has been such a huge success, lots of stars have been pressuring their agents to get them on the BBC contest.
“So they’re actually turning down other shows in the hope they’ll get into Ardross Castle, and that’s got the D-list stars expecting better, higher paid jobs by filling the vacuum they left behind.
“Now the more D-list shows are having to resort to looking at stars further down the celeb totem pole. The whole food chain of celebs has nudged up – at a time when advertising revenues on terrestrial TV are going down.
“There is less money in television and more pressure to come up with new formats that looks different to shows that have dominated our screens over the past 20 years.
“What you’re likely to see is the number of celebrity shows shrink over the next two years, with the smaller, less well known varieties disappearing first because they already have the smallest budgets and are in the most precarious state.
“There’ll still be a hardcore of big beasts remaining. But even they aren’t guaranteed to get the big names, nor will it be a guarantee they’ll keep hold of their audience.”
Last year’s Strictly Come Dancing series had a line-up so underwhelming bookies were taking bets that it was now facing the chop.
The viewing figures for the BBC One dance contest have also continued to fall over the past four years. For example, in 2021, 7.4m tuned in to watch Strictly’s launch show. By last year ratings for the same show had fallen to 5.6m. That’s a fall of 24 per cent.
It’s been a similar story with I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! on ITV. In 2021 its launch show had a peak of 8.8m but by 2025 that had fallen to 7.3m. That’s a drop of 17 per cent.
Despite the success of the recent All Stars version of the show, ITV have also confirmed they won’t be bringing it back for at least three years.
Of course, all of the channel chiefs point to the fact that all shows are now watched differently by viewers. Rather than tune in when it airs, ratings are then bolstered by an increase in people watching online.
But that’s where The Celebrity Traitors has also disrupted the status quo.
It proved that you could still get a huge audience for a celeb-based show on the night it drops in the schedules.
Last year The Celebrity Traitors kicked off with a respectable 6.5m watching the launch, but over the course of three weeks the number of people tuning in on the night had reached 8.5m – and a whopping 12m tuned in for the final.
A TV insider says: “What The Celebrity Traitors did was show that a new format can enjoy huge figures, and having celebrities take part is a bonus. But the most important element is the format.
“The Traitors – which doesn’t feature stars – proved that a large part of the show’s success was down to the show itself. It still excelled without famous faces.”
One thing is clear, however, Strictly’s best years have come when it’s had big names. But with celebs choosing the roundtable over the rumba, many now fear it could spell the end for Strictly.
