With his thick-rimmed glasses and a dress sense once described as an ‘update on Bilbo Baggins’, Josh Widdicombe was not an obvious candidate to co-host Strictly Come Dancing.The bumbling comedian, who was mocked in a GQ Magazine roll-call of Britain’s worst-dressed men, appeared an odd fit for the Saturday night world of spray tans and sequins.Yet the Daily Mail can reveal that beneath the 43-year-old’s somewhat dishevelled exterior in fact lies a remarkably polished operation.For while Widdicombe may have built his career playing the exasperated everyman, behind the scenes he has quietly amassed a business and property empire worth £12million.And nobody appears more amused by his transformation than his own ‘full-on hippy’ father.While Widdicombe now finds himself at the heart of the BBC’s flagship entertainment show, his father Tom can still be found behind a market stall in Devon selling vintage tools. Josh Widdicombe’s father Tom can still be found behind a market stall in Devon selling vintage tools The Daily Mail can reveal that beneath the 43-year-old’s somewhat disheveled exterior in fact lies a remarkably polished operation. Pictured: Widdicombe with his wife Rose New Strictly hosts Josh Widdicombe, Emma Willis and Johannes RadebeThe 76-year-old horse trainer says he has been overwhelmed by locals in Totnes enquiring about his son’s new primetime status.’So many people come up, have a conversation then try to weave in a joke about Strictly, like “oh you won’t need to be on your stall much longer”, as if what he earns is anything to do with me,’ he told local magazine Totnes Pulse.Tom, who describes himself as a ‘full-on hippy in the 60s, smoking dope and thinking why doesn’t the whole world understand’, lives on Dartmoor with Josh’s mother, Sarah, 71, a climate change activist whose Facebook page features Extinction Rebellion imagery.The news outlet made the astute observation that it ‘seems paradoxical that this old hippy – who went to the first Glastonbury Festival – has a son…on the most mainstream, commercially-exploited TV show of the lot’.Yet Tom revealed how father and son share a trait – they both like to show off.Speaking about Josh, he said: ‘One of the things I have learned off him is he doesn’t mind showing off. What is interesting about the TV industry is the way you are treated.’You get picked up by a chauffeur, put in hotels, driven around, told where to go, so all you have to do is perform. They are all so professional, every link in the chain. Having observed Josh, he is so professional in everything he does.’He added: ‘It’s very addictive, showing off. I think that’s why I like the stall – I show off like hell.’ The new Strictly host and Rose at a premiere in London in 2016. Widdicombe’s father said: ‘One of the things I have learned off him is he doesn’t mind showing off’Widdicombe following in the footsteps of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman came as a surprise to many.Much of Strictly’s loyal audience would not have been particularly knowledgeable of the Plymouth Argyle fanatic, who once wrote puzzles for Dora the Explorer magazine before finding his way on to the stand-up comedy circuit.Yet while the glitterball job may be his biggest break of his career, the father-of-two has spent years building up an impressively diverse CV… and with it, substantial wealth.Widdicombe has appeared on 30 seasons of Channel 4’s The Last Leg, alongside Adam Hills and Alex Brooker, since it began in 2012.There have also been appearances on QI, Have I Got News For You, Live at the Apollo, and numerous panel shows, while his stand-up tours have attracted sell-out audiences.However, his most profitable and successful ventures have taken place away from conventional television.In 2020, Widdicombe and fellow comedian Rob Beckett launched Parenting Hell, their hit podcast examining the chaos of raising young children.Widdicombe, who has daughter Pearl and son Cassius with his television producer wife Rose Hanson, 43, turned the exhaustion of parenthood into live arena shows and a best-selling book.Consequently, Companies House filings reveal how, even before his Strictly appointment, Widdicombe had amassed a fortune worth almost £12million.His main company, Troublems Limited, held £5.8million as of March last year, while property company Penrose Lodging Limited had £2.7million in assets.Its holdings include an £850,000 six-bedroom bolthole marketed as ‘Cornwall’s most stylish rental.’Widdicombe also bought a £2.95million family home – Noel Edmonds’s old house – in Exeter last year after selling a five-bedroom property in Hackney, east London, for £2.3million.On top of this, his podcast company Keeping it Light Media Limited, which he co-runs with producer Michael Marden, is worth £383,000.Another company called Page 302 Productions Limited, meanwhile, was worth £158,470 at the end of April 2025.His father believes Josh’s success owes much to a formidable work ethic inherited from his mother’s side of the family.Tom recalled how his son was determined to earn his own money as a teenager, spending one summer working at a Morrisons petrol station in Totnes. Widdicombe bought a £2.95million family home – Noel Edmonds’ old house – in Exeter last year The house is situated on one of Exeter’s most upmarket streets Edmonds lived there after his divorce from second wife Helen Soby and amid the success of Deal or No DealHe recalled: ‘My wife’s side of the family has a strong work ethic and Josh has got that as well. He decided he wanted to work in the summer holidays and I said why on earth do you want to do that!’It didn’t stop him. I thought he must be out of his mind. But no, it is good he did it.’For all his financial success, however, Widdicombe has admitted that money remains a source of anxiety.Speaking on Parenting Hell, he told of putting off paying tax bills because he hates watching large sums leave his account.’I’ve got a tax bill for this month and I know I’ve got the email waiting there… I just can’t,’ he told Rob Beckett. When Beckett suggested he feared losing the financial security he had worked so hard to build, Widdicombe replied: ‘Yeah, that is true. But that is normal.’It’s worse in my head now than it was when I was £14,000 on Dora The Explorer [the magazine], when I didn’t give as s***.’But my life’s way easier.’The comedian has also spoken candidly about the personal toll of his relentless workload, revealing that he suffered anxiety, panic attacks and insomnia before giving up alcohol.Widdicombe told Metro in 2024 that he had suffered severe burnout after the combined pressures of work and parenthood became unsustainable.’I burned out,’ he said, describing the experience as like ‘driving a car at 70 miles per hour while trying to fix the engine or change the tyre’.He said: ‘The antidepressants allowed me the breathing space to feel a bit better, which allowed me to work on things that have made my life better.’I was afraid of taking antidepressants because I thought there was a huge stigma. I wish I’d realised earlier on there was nothing wrong with it.’Widdicombe’s return to Strictly – he appeared in a 2024 Christmas special dancing the Charleston dressed as a penguin – has drawn mixed reactions.Former pro dancer Brendan Cole, 50, said: ‘I feel a bit sorry for him because he’s a bit like a lamb to the slaughter. He looked like a little lamb at times but not because he wasn’t good at his job.’He’s not a dancer, he’s a comedian. He is a good presenter and he’s fun to watch.’But on a show like Strictly, especially when Johannes Radebe is quite flamboyant and stands there all regally like only he would, and then alongside Emma Willis, the ultimate professional, she’s very strong and has quite a strong presenting style.’That is probably the reason he’s getting the critique, it’s because it felt a little bit out of place.’ Widdicombe’s father says he does not watch the BBC show his son now frontsThere is, however, one man whose verdict Widdicombe is unlikely to hear.Asked whether he watches Strictly, his father bluntly replied: ‘No, I don’t.’Tom, who has appeared alongside his son on Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule and on Romesh Ranganathan’s Parent’s Evening, would instead ‘love’ his own taste of showbiz.He added: ‘I’d never say no. Until you get to Josh’s level when you can pick and choose, you have to say yes.’Anybody need an old hippy? Give me a shout.’