Janette Manrara says 'everyone at the moment is on standby' amid Strictly Come Dancing's brutal cast axings.
Janette Manrara has spoken about the brutal culls to the cast of Strictly Come Dancing as part of a big shake-up of the programme.
Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara says the show's stars are on "standby" amid brutal culls to the cast as part of a big shake-up of the programme.
Bosses of the Saturday night BBC Latin and Ballroom dance competition have already axed professional dancers Karen Hauer and Nancy Xu, both 34, Gorka Marquez, 35, Nadiya Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk, both 36, and 30-year-old Michelle Tsiakkas - whose three years on the show ended in a brutal 30-minute online Zoom meeting with an executive producer.
And The Sun recently reported that former pro Janette, 42, and 38-year-old Fleur East's hosting positions on the weekday companion show, It Takes Two, "could be at risk", but the BBC said in a statement that "it is incorrect to claim that either has been axed".
Janette - who was a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing from 2013 until 2020 - appeared on BBC Breakfast on Thursday (16.04.26) and said she "doesn’t know" about her future on It Takes Two after five years in the position.
The star added: "We’ll have to wait and find out.
"I think everyone at the moment is on standby, so we’ll see what happens… That’s showbiz!"
But one professional dancer who has reportedly survived the brutal cull of Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers is 30-year-old Julian Caillon.
It is believed that producers were impressed with Julian after he made his Strictly Come Dancing debut on the 2025 series - in which he reached the semi-final with 47-year-old EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal.
Julian also has 52,000 TikTok followers, and it is thought that big social media presences among the professional dancers played a part in who stayed and got the chop in a bid to attract younger viewers to the show.
A source told The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column: "Julian was not only liked by the bosses, but he also went down well with the viewers. But most importantly, he leads a very clean-living and trouble-free life.
"His fiancee is a fitness expert, and together they really are that perfect, good-looking, clean-living couple, which after everything that’s happened over the last few years is exactly what the bosses want.
"He’s set to sign in the coming weeks."
Strictly Come Dancing bosses are also searching for new co-hosts after Tess Daly, 57, and Claudia Winkleman, 54, stepped down at the end of the 2025 series in December.
Many names have been tipped, including former BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Zoe Ball, 55, ex-Big Brother host Emma Willis, 50, comedienne Miranda Hart, This Morning star Rylan Clark, 37, The Chase's Bradley Walsh, 65, and The One Show co-host Roman Kemp, 33.
In February, The Sun on Sunday newspaper reported that Zoe and Emma are in a "straight shoot-out" to host Strictly Come Dancing alongside a "female stand-up comedian".
A Strictly spokeswoman said: "Plans for Strictly Come Dancing 2026 will be confirmed in due course."
