It's one of the biggest hosting jobs in television, and Strictly Come Dancing has reportedly found its new presenter in the shape of Emma Willis. Which is great news for her - but bad news for Zoe Ball, who has since broken her silence on the "grief and rejection" over losing out.
ICYMI, Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly's decade-long presenting run on Strictly Come Dancing came to an end last season, announcing they were ready to pass the baton on to someone else.
Alongside a video sharing the news, they said: "We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.
"We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day."
Since then, the rumour mill has been swirling over who will take on the job - with Emma Willis's name thrown most prominently into the ring. But one person who won't be taking the job is 55-year-old Zoe Ball, who has confirmed she auditioned for the job, but didn't make the cut.
"I didn't get it, but it's OK, " she told her co-host Jo Whiley on the new episode of her Dig It podcast. "I have worked through the seven stages of grief and rejection over the last couple of days. Obviously the papers have got wind of certain things, I don't think think they've got the full story yet, and I don't think the BBC have confirmed everything as of yet. "
She continued, "No, I didn't get it, but I tell you what, if it's who I think has got it, we're in safe hands and our new hosts are going to be fabulous. I'm so thrilled for them, and hopefully at a later date, we'll be able to talk about them in more detail."
"I don't want to be the one to say the wrong thing, but I was so chuffed to even be in the mix. There were some pretty amazing people who didn't even make it into the mix. So I made it in the mix, and I had a really fun time having one last little play at a show that I love and adore. And I'm so thrilled for the gang that has got it.
Separately, a source told The Sun that it had been an intense audition process, adding that one hopeful had been left "sobbing" over losing out. Yikes.
"From the off, the BBC had their favourites but they knew they couldn’t just shoe-horn in who they wanted — it had to come down to the chemistry tests. The celebs were put into mix-and-match pairs.
“The people who didn’t get offered the job just weren’t the right fit. Some have taken it better than others. One big star who was tipped from day one has been sobbing about it — they were convinced the job was theirs for the taking."
Sad news but Zoe, but possibly great news for Emma!
