Janette Manrara says she has to ‘wait and find out’ about Strictly hosting role

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two presenter Janette Manrara has said she will “wait and find out” about a potential new presenting role on the series.

The 42-year-old, who was previously a professional dancer on the BBC show, has been rumoured as one of the potential successors to Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, who stepped down as hosts of the main show last year.

Asked on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday whether she will be in a new presenting role for this year’s series, Manrara said: “I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and find out.

“I think everyone at the moment is a bit on standby, so we’ll see what happens.”

Manrara also said she is “assuming we’ll have a couple of new professionals and a couple of new presenters” for the 2026 series, after dancers Michelle Tsiakkas, Karen Hauer, Nadiya Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk announced they are leaving the show.

Manrara appeared on BBC Breakfast with her husband, Strictly professional Aljaz Skorjanec, with the couple currently performing together on the Let’s Face The Music And Dance tour.

She said: “We’re very, very lucky. The show (Strictly) has given us this beautiful platform to be able to go off and do the tours that we do, and we don’t take it for granted, and in my opinion, and I think Aljaz will agree, it’s the best entertainment show on telly.

“I’m just so happy that it’s been a part of our lives for so many years. I mean, we were just dating when we started the show, and during the show, we got married, we became parents. It’s just been phenomenal.”

Other names linked with the vacant presenting roles include TV and radio presenter Zoe Ball, who told the Sunday Times earlier this year she would “love to do it”, adding she would like either Rylan Clark or Vernon Kay as her co-host.