Sara Cox auditioned for Strictly two days after BBC Radio 2 offer

Sara Cox auditioned for Strictly Come Dancing two days after she was offered the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. On Tuesday May 19, she said the tryout happened inside a hush-hush process that ended with Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe taking the presenting jobs.

Radio 2 before Strictly

sara cox made the reveal on her radio show while talking through a run of big career shifts. She said, “I tried out for Strictly and I will say I tried out for it two days after I got offered my number one, all-time, dream job of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.”

She added, “Oh, I'll go along and try for Strictly as well, why not, and what next? News at Ten?” The line lands because it shows how quickly she moved from one major opportunity to another, with the Strictly audition tucked into the middle.

Secret destination in a car

Cox said the process stayed tightly controlled. “I got into a car that was taking me to a secret destination,” she said, calling the audition “hush-hush” and describing the experience as “really great fun.”

That detail places the audition in the same category as the kind of hidden casting process broadcasters use when they want to keep names quiet until the decision is made. Cox was already 51, and she had just taken over Scott Mills’ slot in the Radio 2 schedule, so the audition sat alongside a visible career move rather than replacing it.

Emma Willis takes the job

Cox did not get the Strictly role. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe will host the upcoming series, due to debut in the autumn.

She later congratulated the new hosts and said they could “calm the heck down.” For readers tracking on-air talent, that is the real takeaway: Cox was in the mix for a marquee live-format job, but the autumn series will move ahead with a different presenting line-up, while her new breakfast-show role remains the bigger shift in her schedule.