The Strictly 2026 pairing reveal is getting a shake-up: contestants will not learn who their professional partners are until the launch show on 19 September, a change from the behind-the-scenes video format the BBC series has used in recent years.
Graeme Hall, who appears on Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, let the news slip during an appearance on Radio Northampton. ‘This year, they’re doing it slightly differently,’ he said, via MailOnline. ‘We don’t find out until the launch show. You have no say in it, the pros have no say in it.’
Back to the pre-Covid format for the Strictly 2026 pairing reveal
In recent series, pairings were announced through pre-filmed clips of celebrities meeting their professional partners, which were then broadcast on launch night. Bringing the reveal back to a live, in-the-moment moment on the night itself takes the show back to the approach it used before Covid interrupted production.
The 15 celebrities heading into the 2026 series will therefore face a collective wait right up until they step onto the stage. According to The Independent, the live competitive shows then begin on Saturday 26 September, with the first results programme airing on Sunday 4 October, when the first celebrity to leave will be announced. The series is scheduled to run through to the final on Saturday 19 December.
Chemistry tests, Jim Carrey and the waiting game
While the pairings themselves remain under wraps, contestants have already had a taste of what to expect. Fellow 2026 celebrity Will Best described the process of ‘chemistry tests’ that the production team used to inform the pairing decisions. ‘They were seeing what the chemistry was like between the celebs and the pros to see who you might get paired with,’ he explained. ‘All the male celebs would stand in a circle facing outwards and the female pros would dance with each of you really quickly for a few seconds, a few bars, and then they move on to the next person going round in these circles.’
Best also revealed that his dancing style made a lasting impression on two of the professionals. ‘Two of the female pros commented on my “dancing face”,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise that I dance more with my face than with my legs, and two of them separately and unprompted said, “It’s like dancing with Jim Carrey in The Mask”. Two of them said the exact same thing!’
The professionals heading back to the dancefloor for 2026 make up a substantial returning cast. According to the BBC, the line-up includes Dianne Buswell, Julian Caillon, Amy Dowden, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Jowita Przysta?, Aljaž Škorjanec, Alexis Warr, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Vito Coppola. It is from that group that the 15 celebrities will be matched up on the night, making the live reveal all the more charged.
A new era in the ballroom
The pairing drama unfolds against the backdrop of the biggest change to the show’s presenting line-up in years. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe are all making their debuts as hosts, taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Over on spin-off show It Takes Two, Ellie Taylor, herself a former contestant, steps up to take the helm.
Widdicombe offered a glimpse of how the new team is settling in, sharing a photograph from rehearsals this week. ‘Lovely couple of days in London prepping and learning a dance with these legends,’ he wrote. ‘Oh my, not long now.’
With the Strictly 2026 pairing reveal now firmly locked behind the launch-night curtain, anyone hoping to find out who is dancing with whom will simply have to tune in to BBC One on 19 September. The first eliminations follow swiftly: someone will be heading home as early as that first Sunday results show on 4 October.
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