Strictly bosses 'planning to change host line-up' after just one series of Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe - amid whispers the show has become a 'laughing stock'

When Emma Willis and her two new Strictly sidekicks were put in an audition room together, the programme's highest bosses thought they'd found 'the future'.

Accomplished presenter Ms Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Radebe were deemed to have the chemistry needed to bring a new dawn to the BBC One dance show.

But after four weeks of them following in the footsteps of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, BBC chiefs have already come to the conclusion that the trio will have to change for next year's series.

Sources connected with the show say bosses are 'aware' that the programme has become a 'laughing stock' and are considering whether the wrong people were hired - and whether having three anchors was a mistake.

'When Emma, Josh and Johannes entered that room, they were seen to be the dream,' says a BBC source. 'Those at the BBC who didn't see them were shocked and didn't believe it could work.

'That view stands, it doesn't work. Not only have many of the traditional viewers stopped watching, the show has become the butt of jokes, a laughing stock.

'It's like those choosing were trying to be kooky and cool, and they saw something that might appeal to young people.

'Emma is a very experienced presenter but Josh looks like he's hanging around her like an uncool boy at school and she doesn't want him near her. That might be funny in other shows, but this is Strictly, the biggest show on Saturday-night television.

'It should be slicker, in the view of many at the top of the BBC, so there are changes afoot. There were so many brilliant presenters to choose from - Zoe Ball and Rylan Clark, for example - but they went for this lot.' Senior BBC bosses have started canvassing opinions from industry figures about what to do next year.

However, a BBC spokesman last night insisted any talk of changes for next year was 'pure and utter speculation'.

With the exception of Ms Willis, the hosts were criticised in the first two weeks of Strictly for not being experienced enough as presenters. Radebe was lambasted by viewers for mixing up timings of when he should be speaking, while Widdicombe fluffed his lines.

One suggestion is that with the judges - Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton du Beke and Motsi Mabuse - coming to the end of their contracts at the end of this series, there could be a space for Radebe to join the panel.

It's thought that Ms Willis, also the presenter of ITV rival The Voice, will stay while the future of Widdicombe could be in doubt. 'It isn't working,' says a show insider. 

'Strictly isn't really for him, he probably knows that.' The current Strictly series has also been criticised for a line-up of contestants, relatively unknown to a traditional audience, with the BBC accused of 'chasing younger viewers at the expense of their older ones.'