Published: 29 September 2025
Strictly It Takes Two waltzes back onto screens to give Strictly Come Dancing fans the inside scoop on all things backstage in the Ballroom.
The dynamic duo, Janette Manrara and Fleur East, return to BBC Two and iPlayer to bring viewers all the behind-the scenes glamour and gossip from the nation’s biggest dancing show.
The 2025 series of Strictly promises to be extra special with even more glitz, razzmatazz and unforgettable performances and It Takes Two will be right there at the forefront!
Strictly It Takes Two is a BBC Daytime Commission. The commissioning Editor is Helen Munson, the Executive Producer for BBC Studios is Eve Winstanley and the Series Editor is Sonal Patel.
EG
Meet the Presenters
Fleur East
Strictly season is back! What excites you about starting a new series of It Takes Two?
What excites me the most is seeing the new celebs and trying to suss out in my mind who’s going to get all the way to the end. The truth is you can never call it, and that’s what I love about it. There are always dark horses in the competition. There are people that you might write off from early on, and then next minute, they’re in the final. It’s just so much fun and you truly never know.
With It Takes Two, you get the chance to have more in depth interviews with contestants regularly. It seems like you’re pretty adamant that this still doesn’t mean you can spot a winner early on?
It’s weird, you always think you know. And then as it gets further into the competition there’s always what I like to call a turning point week. There’s always a week where someone pops up as the front runner and you go oh wow, I didn’t even see you! Honestly it just depends on the theme, the song, the dance, and everything in the Strictly sequence aligning. But I have never called it. I’ve never got the winner right in the first month, no way.
What have you learned from working alongside Janette on It Takes Two?
She’s inspiring to me because she’s a mother and she had Lyra before I had Nova. I remember her turning up to the photo shoot, I think it was about seven weeks after she had had Lyra. And I was like, how? But she showed me that you could do anything with a positive mindset and lots of energy. Janette is very positive to work with and just a bundle of joy.
What are your thoughts on this year’s contestants? What do you think of the cast of Strictly 2025?
I love it because it’s such a mixed bunch. I mean, every year it is, but there’s so many people from completely different walks of life this year. I really can’t call who is going to win! I don’t even know who will be in the final. I’m also super excited because we’ve got new pros, Alexis and Julian who I’ve seen dance and they are just incredible. So that fresh energy is really fun. It’s going to be a great year.
Do you have any favourite themed weeks yourself?
I love Halloween Week. Absolutely love it. My birthday is 29 October, so I’m a Scorpio like Janette. Halloween was my fun week because it was my birthday, but I also really enjoy musicals week. And of course Blackpool – there are just so many amazing weeks!
What are some of your favourite memories from being on the iconic dance floor?
When I did the samba, I think it was week eight before Blackpool, that was a big turning point for me because it was the most challenging dance style that I’d taken on. It’s a hard dance and it really wasn’t clicking with me the whole week until literally the Thursday night. And then it just got in my body.
I remember Motsi being brought to tears, and she was just saying “I’m so proud of you” and Shirley stood up for us. That was really a wow moment. For me it was always about taking on a new challenge, something that was so different to me. Yes, I’m a singer and performer, but I am not a trained dancer so for me it was so daunting learning how to dance in front of people and live on telly. I really wanted to get the approval from the judges so seeing Shirley standing up and Motsi crying, as well as getting my highest score in the competition to that point, I was just so proud. I think that’s my most watched performance of mine out of my own dances.
Janette Manrara
Strictly season is back! What excites you most about starting a new series of It Takes Two?
Getting to know all the couples! On the Saturday show, we only get a couple of seconds with them in the Clauditorium, and only get to meet them a little bit in their VT’s. Whereas on It Takes Two you get to go deeper into how they’re finding the dancing, how they’re getting along, what they’re struggling with, what they’re enjoying. So these first few weeks of It Takes Two is probably the most exciting time of the whole series.
With It Takes Two, you get the chance to have more in depth interviews with all contestants regularly. Can you spot a winner early on?
No absolutely not. Every year I get blown away and shocked by somebody and that’s the fun of Strictly. I think that the magic of not knowing who it’s going to be. You may have your ideas of who could be a front runner but whether they will win or not is a different matter. I mean, it’s not always the best dancer that wins the show, so you can’t really call it and I love that because it keeps Fleur and myself, as well as the audience, on our toes every weekend.
What have you learned from working alongside Fleur?
We are so alike! So I had a baby and named her after a constellation, she had a baby and named her after a supernova. We are just literally sisters from other misters and I love her.
What are your thoughts on this year’s contestants?
I love them. I’ll get to meet them a little bit more now It Takes Two has started. But I did get to go to the launch show, and I met a lot of them at the launch show, and they are such a fun, lively bunch.
Do you have any favourite themed Strictly weeks?
Blackpool is my ultimate favourite. It tends to be around my birthday so that’s always extra special, but it’s just such a beautiful tower to dance in. It’s such an iconic building for the dance world and you kind of feel like you’re on a school trip with your mates. There’s extra dancers, extra props and everything just feels so much bigger in Blackpool.
What are some of your favourite memories from being on the iconic Strictly dance floor yourself?
I think one for sure, was on my second year when I danced salsa with Jake Wood. I don’t think people expected him at all to do what he did. And it was only week two in the competition, and it brought the house down. I’ll never forget that feeling of that night, dancing with him, that salsa and that specific dance, it was incredible. We’re still really good friends. We still text, and I’m friends with his family, and he’s a friend of my family.
Then I think my last ever dance on Strictly, which was with Harvey. We were in the final, the only final I ever got to, and we did One Singular Sensation in these golden sequins – that was incredible.