Strictly Come Dancing is being overshadowed by a fellow BBC series in a way that threatens its long reign as one of television’s biggest autumn events, with a new rival eating into the precious weeks when the dance competition would once have had the nation’s full attention.
For years, Strictly dominated the conversation from mid-September right through to Christmas. It was a national obsession, the show everyone talked about at work, at home and everywhere in between. The argument being made now is that those days are largely behind it, and the reason has nothing to do with ITV or any of the various scandals that have followed the series in recent years.
The Celebrity Traitors changes the landscape for good
The show doing the real damage is The Celebrity Traitors, which first broadcast on BBC One on 8 October 2025. Strictly kicks off in mid-September, but once The Celebrity Traitors arrives in early October, the game changes entirely. There are only a few weeks in which Strictly can establish itself before the macabre game show, hosted by former Strictly presenter Claudia Winkleman, takes over the national conversation.
The scale of The Celebrity Traitors’ pull is hard to argue with. Its first season pulled in viewing figures topping 15 million. Season 2 has shown no sign of cooling off: according to Northeast Times, its premiere drew a record UK audience of about 8.9 million viewers, with a line-up featuring Richard E. Grant, Bella Ramsey, Myha’la, Maya Jama, James Acaster, Jerry Hall, James Blunt and Michael Sheen. A cast like that generates exactly the kind of water-cooler conversation that Strictly once had to itself.
When The Celebrity Traitors is on, it commands the front pages and the social media feeds. Once it wraps up, ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! takes over in November, meaning Strictly spends the bulk of its run being squeezed from both sides. By the time the jungle is finished, it is December and Strictly is nearly done. The question being asked is whether, by that point, enough people still care to make it feel like the event it once was.
Strictly Come Dancing being overshadowed in this way does not mean the show disappears: it will still attract strong ratings and a loyal audience. But its status as a genuine cultural phenomenon, the kind that unites the country in a shared weekly ritual, looks increasingly difficult to sustain under these conditions.
A risky line-up and a changed format add to the pressure
The scheduling problem is compounded by choices made for this year’s series. The celebrity line-up has been described as the weakest in years. There are household names in Lacey Turner, Jaime Winstone, Delta Goodrem, Dani Dyer and Will Best, but beyond that cluster, recognisability drops off sharply. Bethany Antonia, Tabby Stoecker, Chris Appleton and Lawrence Robb are names that would draw a blank from a large portion of the viewing public, by most estimates.
At the same time, producers have made a series of changes that represent a considerable gamble. The show now has three hosts, a departure from the format viewers know. The presenting line-up includes Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe, neither of whom, as the series itself has acknowledged, has much presenting experience. A number of professional dancers have also been dropped, without any obvious explanation made public.
There may well be a strategy behind all of it. Fresh formats can reinvigorate long-running shows, and a shaken-up line-up sometimes surprises people. But the timing is uncomfortable. Making sweeping changes to a show that is already competing for attention against The Celebrity Traitors and its record-breaking numbers is a high-wire act.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday 19 September. Season 2 of The Celebrity Traitors is already on air, with its premiere having set a new audience record for the series.
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