Will Best is one of the 15 celebrities on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, and who is Will on strictly now includes a 41-year-old presenter who is trying to fit ballroom training around a 6am weekday radio slot and Big Brother. He said he woke up at the crack of dawn for the breakfast show before heading to Elstree Studios for photoshoots and press.
Hits Radio before Elstree Studios
At 6am on weekdays, he still co-hosts the Hits Radio Breakfast Show, then moves on to Strictly work at Elstree Studios. That sequence matters because the show’s press cycle sits on top of an already early start, leaving little slack before live television commitments begin to stack up.
He described the schedule as manageable in the moment, saying, “It’s all good, it’s all fun stuff,” but the practical reality is that Strictly training now lands between two regular presenting jobs. For a contestant with daily live radio and television duties, rehearsal time has to be carved out of the same hours most people would use to recover.
WhatsApp, banter and nerves
Best said he is “a bit of a lurker” in the cast WhatsApp group and added, “I get nervous about chiming in on WhatsApp groups with loads of people. In real life, you can't shut me up, but something about those WhatsApp groups… I hope people don't think that I’m aloof. I’m enjoying the banter. I’m just yet to really dive into it.” The line is useful because it shows how the new cast is already functioning as a working group before the live shows properly settle in.
The rest of the lineup includes Dani Dyer, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Lacey Turner, Jaime Winstone and Chris Appleton, which turns the group chat into part social space, part production tool. Best’s hesitation does not read like distance from the series; it reads like someone managing workload first and social integration second.
Chris Appleton’s pep talk
On the day of the National Television Awards, Best said he was already drained before Chris Appleton stepped in. “I was so tired when I got in because, you know, there has been a lot and I was stressing,” he said, before adding, “I was a little bit down, and Chris, he sensed it.”
Appleton’s response was blunt enough to land: “Will, you’ve got this. You’re busy because you’re great. You can do it.” Best said, “He picked me up and put his arms around me,” and added, “He’s a very special man.” The exchange matters because it shows the kind of support that may keep a contestant steady when work and rehearsal collide.
Best also said, “I’m in love with Chris Appleton,” and, “I feel like he’s my older brother, who’s actually the same age as me.” He also said he will certainly be crying on national television in the coming weeks, which sounds less like a joke than a forecast from someone already running hot on energy and nerves.
For now, the question is not whether Best can make one show fit around another; it is how long he can keep doing three jobs at once without the schedule swallowing the performance. If Strictly gives him an outlet, the weekday radio alarm clock still gives him the bill.
