Strictly Come Dancing 2021 Launch: John Whaite and Johannes Radebe become the first all-male pairing and champion Bill Bailey returns

The ballroom bonanza is back at full strength

Sequins and shimmies at the ready! Strictly has returned, bringing us Saturday-night sparkle every weekend from now until Christmas. Yes, unlike last year’s Covid-reduced series, this is the ballroom bonanza at (almost) full strength, with 15 celebrity hopefuls and three theme weeks: movies, musicals and Halloween. On tonight’s launch show, which kicked off at 7.45pm on BBC One, the contestants meet their pro partners, and then next week the competition begins in earnest.

Understandably, the BBC is keeping some pandemic measures in place. The couples will stay at their cabaret tables in the audience between dances, instead of congregating around Claudia Winkleman for the interviews and scores. That audience has limited numbers, the professional dancers have recorded all their numbers in advance, and there’s no trip up to Blackpool. The reward? Hopefully we’ll get an uninterrupted series, plus there’s the added bonus of a Christmas special this year.

Time for a Strictly shake-up

Season 19 also sees some big changes to the format. Long-time pro Anton du Beke takes Bruno Tonioli’s place on the judging panel, since Tonioli still has difficulties travelling between London and LA, where he films Dancing with the Stars. Will du Beke earn a permanent spot? He’s going to be under as much scrutiny as the contestants he’s judging.

Meanwhile, another former pro, Janette Manrara, transitions to presenting. She’s taking over from Zoe Ball on Strictly’s weekday sister show, It Takes Two, which begins on BBC Two at 6:30pm on 27 September; Rylan Clark-Neal returns as co-presenter. And we’re welcoming four new professional dancers to the cast: Kai Widdrington, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard, and Jowita Przystal.

Despite all the precautions taken, one professional has tested positive for Covid this week. Since tonight’s show was filmed in advance, meaning they were paired up with a celebrity before that test, we’re not sure yet how it will be handled. Most likely another pro will take their place for the first week while they quarantine and then they can rejoin, since isolation rules are now 10 days instead of 14.

The same should hopefully apply to any contestant who tests positive during the run: a bye week instead of being cut altogether, like poor Nicola Adams and Katya Jones. The show’s debut same-sex couple was eliminated early in 2020 when Jones had a positive test, much to the disappointment of viewers.

Hurrah for the history-makers

Still, we’re building on that with another “first” this year: the first all-male couple, as former Bake Off winner John Whaite competes with a male professional. And he’s not the only history-maker, with EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis becoming the first ever deaf contestant on Strictly.

They’re joined by Olympic champion Adam Peaty, McFly’s Tom Fletcher, newsreader Dan Walker, Peep Show’s Robert Webb, Sara Davies of Dragon’s Den, CBBC’s Rhys Stephenson, chef Tilly Ramsay, presenter AJ Odudu, actresses Nina Wadia and Katie McGlynn, rugby player-turned pundit Ugo Monye, comedian Judi Love, and last but not least, actor (and Telegraph columnist!) Greg Wise.

But who will be guiding them round the floor? Our returning pros are: Aljaž Škorjanec, Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Nancy Xu, Neil Jones and Oti Mabuse. That makes 18 in all (with four newcomers), so three will be featured in the pro dances but not competing.

Can Olympic champion Adam Peaty continue his winning streak?

Professional dancer Katya Jones was clearly delighted to be paired with Olympian Adam Peaty – and no wonder. Swimmer Peaty was one of the standouts in Team GB’s incredible Tokyo run, netting two gold medals and successfully retaining his 100m breaststroke title, and he now brings that champion mentality to the dance floor. He wasn’t remotely worried by Jones’s suggestion of 12-hour training days. Yikes.

He’s not afraid of the Strictly sparkle either, wearing a tight-fitting shiny purple shirt on the launch show, and he’s gleefully tweeted a picture of himself from the Strictly wardrobe department while wearing an eye-popping car-wash frock. Combine that fearlessness and discipline with Jones’s constantly inventive, boundary-pushing choreography, and they could be a formidable force.

Giovanni Pernice will partner deaf contestant Rose Ayling-Ellis

Ayling-Ellis, who plays Danny Dyer’s on-screen daughter Frankie Lewis in EastEnders, is Strictly’s first ever deaf contestant. She uses hearing aids and employs a combination of BSL (British Sign Language) and SSE (Sign Supported English, which follows the grammatical structure of spoken English), and is eager to prove that deaf people can enjoy both music and dancing.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how Strictly adapts to her casting – apparently staff have had deaf awareness training, and Ayling-Ellis will have an interpreter with her on the set, who we glimpsed standing behind Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman during interviews. And she should be safe hands with the experienced and well-liked pro Giovanni Pernice, who has partnered the likes of Michelle Visage, Ranvir Singh, Faye Tozer and Debbie McGee.

Viewers love a good Strictly “J word” (journey) and an interesting personal story with challenges to overcome, so Ayling-Ellis ticks all the boxes – and also, on the basis on of her initial interviews, has a bubbly personality that should win her a legion of fans.

Welcome to the new kids on the block

We’ve got four new professional dancers this year: Polish dancer Jowita Przystał, Ireland’s Kai Widdrington, German dancer Nikita Kuzmin, and – adding to the show’s growing South African contingent – Cameron Lombard. The youthful quartet made an immediate impact in their pre-taped segment: sultry Argentine tango in an underground fight club-esque setting.

Widdrington described himself as “suave, sophisticated and a touch of class”, while Przystał warned everyone not to underestimate her because of her diminutive size. Floppy-haired Kuzman promised intensity and Lombard high energy. Widdrington has scored a celebrity partner right away, though may have his work cut out getting a word in with motor-mouthed presenter AJ Odudu.

And I’m thrilled to see Nancy Xu finally get a partner. She’s been a real firecracker in all the group numbers the past couple of years – can she translate that into corralling a clueless celebrity? Her teaching style, she told Claudia, is “very strict.” She and CBBC’s Rhys Stephenson (who already looks right at home on the dance floor) could be this year’s surprise package.

Anton Du Beke makes his official judging debut

The long-standing pro, who has been on the show since the very beginning, subbed in as a judge for a couple of weeks last year. Now, he’s doing a full series, as Bruno Tonioli is unable to travel back and forth from America.

Some might carp at Du Beke judging others, since he’s never won the series himself (he’s twice made the final during his long run, with partners Katie Derham and Emma Barton), but he beat his critics to the punch this evening. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to it!” he quipped self-deprecatingly as he cradled the glitterball trophy during the opening judges’ interviews.

We’ll see whether Du Beke gets tougher when the competition begins next week – or if he sticks to more of an encouraging, Len Goodman-style “SEVEN” route.

Johannes Radebe will partner John Whaite

Move over, Fred and Ginger – here comes Fred and Fred! Yes, it’s official: former Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite is going to be taking to the floor with Johannes Radebe. Last year the audience embraced Strictly’s first ever same-sex pair, boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones, and I predict this exciting all-male duo could build on that to become real contenders.

Whaite has already demonstrated he can cope with competition nerves and exacting judges, and he’s been showing off his buff physique on social media, which bodes well for dance training. “I want hips like Shakira!” he told Radebe, promising to work hard, though also admitting to nerves.

The South African pro has become a real crowd favourite thanks to fabulous performances like his instantly iconic high kicks in high heels during a fashion-themed group number, or partnering fellow pro Graziano Di Prima for a groundbreaking same-sex dance. He’s also opened up about being bullied at school, and the importance of queer representation on Strictly.

Together, Whaite and Rabebe – whose first dance is the tango – may well slay the competition.

Here come the boys

Is this the year that the guys dominate? Tom Fletcher of McFly (whose bandmate Harry Judd, winner in 2011, provided a drum roll for Fletcher’s partner reveal) is the bookies’ favourite. He should do well with hard-working Welsh pro and former finalist Amy Dowden, although Fletcher’s touring schedule might be an impediment.

Peep Show’s Robert Webb has been downplaying his dancing prowess, protesting that his infamous Let’s Dance for Comic Relief performance was a fluke, but the legend of his 2009 Flashdance number (complete with wig, leg warmers and extremely snug leotard) lives on. He’s paired with peppy flame-haired pro Dianne Buswell, who should encourage Webb’s wild side. Their first dance sets the tone: a cha cha cha to Boney M’s Rasputin.

I’m also keeping a keen eye on actor Greg Wise, who won my heart with his smouldering Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility, and made a grand entrance on horseback. Is he a romantic leading man on the dance floor, too? Partner Karen Hauer will certainly hope so, although she’s known more as a red-hot Latin specialist. It could be opposites attract – or repel.

At least Wise will have wife Emma Thompson in support, and, we hope, bringing her inimitable humour (and some Hollywood glam) to the Strictly audience.

Or could it be a hat trick for Oti Mabuse?

The popular pro has had a dream run, lifting the glitterball trophy with a last-minute substitute, soap actor Kelvin Fletcher, in 2019, and then surprising everyone by repeating the feat with comedian Bill Bailey last year. She’s also become a judging star over on The Greatest Dancer, and her mentee, the show’s 2020 champion Jowita Przystał, is a new pro on Strictly this season. Truly, this is Oti’s time.

Her 2021 partner is rugby union player-turned-pundit (and new Question of Sport team captain) Ugo Monye. Athletes generally take well to Strictly’s tough training regime and pressurised atmosphere, but not all can locate their inner Fred Astaire – sometimes those muscles get in the way.

Still, Monye looked promising in the group dance and he’s surely got a shot here, paired with the show’s best teacher and choreographer – and a quietly fearsome competitor. Bailey might have thought he was just on the show to have a laugh, but Mabuse had other plans…

Won’t you come home Bill Bailey

Speaking of whom: all hail our miraculous 2020 Strictly champ, who popped back to the ballroom for a fantastic encore performance with Mabuse. And while I’m firmly on the record as hating the Couple’s Choice category – it’s too vaguely defined dance wise, inconsistently judged, and basically acts as a get-out-of-jail-free pass in the middle of a fiercely fought contest – I can’t deny the sheer joyful wonder that is their dapper Rapper’s Delight routine.

It’s the perfect encapsulation of this winning pair’s chemistry, charisma and impressive work ethic. They put in the hours so that they could nail every move, while delivering it with a playful nonchalance that makes it irresistibly fun viewing.

This year’s cast could learn a lot from their example – and take inspiration from the fact that no one pegged the 55-year-old comic Bailey as a likely finalist, let alone winner, at the beginning of the series. Anything is possible on Strictly, which is what makes the show so addictive even 19 series in.

Join us again next Saturday when the new cast takes to the floor!