Strictly’s new hosts Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe reveal how the three-presenter format will work after their ‘cloak and dagger’ audition process in first interview

Strictly Come Dancing’s new presenting trio Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have revealed there are more massive shake ups in store for the show.In their first major interview since they were unveiled as Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s replacements on the BBC’s flagship show, the hosts have explained how the new presenting format will work.Explaining that having three presenters was a ‘wild card’ choice for producers, Emma, Josh and Strictly pro dancer Johannes have admitted the format is still ‘very open’ just weeks before the live shows are due to kick off.’There’s no like for like, so no one’s kind of replacing anybody and at the minute it’s all very kind of open’, Emma told the The Rest Is Entertainment podcast.’We’re having lots of production days where we go in and we play around and we’re kind of feeling each other out – well, they’re feeling us out really.’Josh added to podcast host Richard Osman: ‘It’s going to be like total football, Richard. We’re going to be moving everywhere.’ Strictly Come Dancing’s new presenting trio Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have revealed there are more massive shake ups in store for the show Emma also clarified that Johannes ‘definitely’ won’t be in a ‘backstage roving reporter’ role as some insiders previously suggested.The trio said they were itching to get started with the show after being put through their paces during a gruelling four month audition process. Explaining it was all very ‘cloak and dagger’ and ‘a bit like Traitors,’ Josh even revealed that Strictly bosses invented a fake gardening show to keep the audition process secret. ‘We were told if the driver asked, he’d been told it was a show about gardening called The Great Garden Glow Up,’ Josh said. Emma added: ‘So they created a whole new name for a show. Created a whole new show… They said for the cab drivers.’  ‘I did feel like saying to my agent, “I wouldn’t have gone to The Great Garden Glow Up chemistry test,”‘ laughed Josh. ‘I am in the back of the car and there is a cabbie who is judging me. Because he thinks I would present a show called The Great Garden Glow Up.’After auditioning separately the trio were asked to return for chemistry tests. Stars like Zoe Ball and Sara Cox have revealed they were part of the secret auditions but didn’t bag the roles and the trio confirmed they did indeed have chemistry tests with a number of different potential hosts.Later on in the week the trio were finally united, but have admitted that even producers weren’t sure on how the live show format would work with three. In their first major interview since they were unveiled as Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s replacements, the hosts have explained how the new presenting format will work Explaining that having three presenters was a ‘wild card’ choice for producers, Emma, Josh and Strictly pro dancer Johannes have admitted the format is still ‘very open’Emma said bosses told them during their callback ‘this is the last one and this is a wild card.”We’re just like, “What happens if we do three?” And they said, “It’s so much of a wild card, we don’t really have a script for you either. So we’re going to sit down, get it up on the screen and we’ll have a little tinker all together.”‘ Josh admitted he was shocked when Johannes walked in the room, explaining that ‘you’ve seen the papers. So you presume those are the people in the mix. And so you think “oh it’s probably one of these people”. And then Jojo walked in.”I’d say both of us thought that’s a weird combo.”There was a moment of that wasn’t it?’ Johannes agreed. ‘We were like what is going on here? Because we didn’t know that the three of us were going to end up in the room.’Two weeks later and the three finally got the call confirming they were the hosts. It wasn’t all sequins and glam though as Emma confessed she took the Zoom call whilst sitting on the toilet at the hairdressers whilst Josh was ‘in a graveyard in Birmingham.’ Watch or listen to The Rest Is Entertainment wherever you get your podcasts.