Yesterday Strictly finally confirmed Emma, 50, Josh, 43, and show professional dancer Johannes, 39, have taken over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as hosts – days after The Sun told of the new line-up.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, head judge Shirley, 65, confessed the announcement even came as a surprise to her as she was expecting only two new names to be revealed.
“I met Josh for the first time this week, he’s a charming chap,” Shirley said. “Emma, of course, I did Cooking With The Stars with – that’s a seasoned presenter and just a gorgeous lady.
“And who doesn’t love some Johannes? We all love him.
“It’s going to be interesting because we thought we were getting two but we ended up with three.
“But the chemistry between Emma and Josh, I’m told, is off the charts. So let’s see.”
Shirley also confirmed FIVE new professional dancers are joining the show after a brutal cull saw the likes of Nayida Bychkova and Karen Hauer axed.
She said: “I think everybody is going to enjoy the new series. We got five new professionals coming in, some fantastic dancers.
“All in all, it’s having tweaks left, right and centre and it’s getting a new face!”
Shirley was speaking to The Sun after teaming up with Abbott‘s Libre team for its One Step Ahead campaign.
She’s working with mum Audrey, 88, to promote the importance of tech confidence after two in five UK adults have faced real consequences because they couldn’t complete a task online.
Revealing why she thinks it’s so important for everyone to use apps like the NHS, Shirley said: “I missed my breast biopsy results and my histopathology results.
“It had been two weeks and I’m wondering why I hadn’t heard anything so I’m on the phone and in a queue for 20 minutes to finally get through for them to say, ‘I’ll call you back’.
“We can’t be frightened of technology anymore, it isn’t going anywhere.”
