Janette Manrara reflects on Strictly hosting rejection

Janette Manrara says she was devastated after producers chose other presenters for the main Strictly Come Dancing hosting role, despite her belief that she had performed well in chemistry tests for the job. She later said she felt proud of her progress as a presenter and was looking forward to what came next. Manrara discussed the audition and rejection on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast. She said producers told her she had done well in the chemistry tests, and that she felt like a frontrunner. The presenting role went to Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman left the show at the end of its 2025 series. Manrara said the decision was difficult to accept and that she cried for weeks. She described the missed opportunity as the biggest rejection of her career. According to her account, producers contacted candidates’ agents with their decisions on the same day and offered to speak with her afterward. She said she contacted them the following Monday and that they told her she had been brilliant, but did not explain why she was not selected. The audition followed years of work on the programme and its related shows.