HAVING bagged the top presenting gig of replacing Zoe Ball on Strictly’s IT Takes Two back in 2021 – Janette Manrara felt like she’d finally made it and become bigger than the dancing show itself.
But after being unceremoniously axed from the show at the start of this year, the dancer’s years-long secret career struggle can now be laid bare.
As part of a major shake-up at the BBC dancing show following the departures of long-running main hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, BBC execs have also decided to make a number of other changes in order to give the show a fresh new feel.
From axing a slew of pro dancers to a trio of new hosts and the decision to totally overhaul It Takes Two to become a new vodcast-style show, it meant booting out the show’s hosts too.
The Sun revealed how Janette and her co-star Fleur East had lost their jobs on the spin-off as part of the decision to revamp it.
But most worryingly for Janette – it has left her without a TV gig and has seen her secret career struggle come to the surface.
Sources have told The Sun how the “sad” situation has laid bare to Janette how her career has failed to take off as hoped.
An insider told us: “Losing her It Takes Two gig has been heartbreaking for Janette.
“When she first landed the gig she thought her lifelong fortunes had changed for good but it has totally gone the other way.
“Taking on a role made famous by both Claudia Winkleman and Zoe Ball and working as a co-host with Rylan, instantly boosted Janette into the A-list of BBC telly presenting.
“It marked a real career turnaround for Janette.
“She long had ambitions to become more than just a Strictly pro and knew that presenting was the way to go.
“But behind-the-scenes, things didn’t go exactly as hoped.”
The Sun can tell how sources close to Janette have revealed how she expected a number of other TV offers would flood in thanks to her It Takes Two role.
They said: “Janette expected to be in high demand and thought she would have presenting offers galore.
“But nothing else ever really came up.
“She was briefly tested out as a host on BBC Morning Live but bosses opted not to make her full-time and she now only ever is called upon if the other regular stars are unavailable.
“The dreams of flash Saturday night shows and live reality series never cropped up for Janette and her dream of being the next Claudia or Zoe started to fade.
“So when Janette heard that she was also being let go from It Takes Two – it instantly became a nightmare situation for her.”
In a further blow, Strictly insiders conceded how they never even heard her name be linked to the on-camera chemistry tests that the BBC set-up in order to find the next Strictly host.
All the other previous It Takes Two hosts – Rylan, Zoe and Fleur – were all understood to have been called up alongside the three eventual hosts and names like Angela Scanlon, but Janette is thought to have been left out in the cold.
It means the dancer is now without a TV gig and has been left wondering what is next for her.
A source added: “It has been difficult for Janette to accept that her career has come to a halt.
“The same pattern happened with her hubby Aljaz.
“He left the show as a dancer in the hopes of scoring a bigger TV career.
“But he soon had to return to the programme after failing to get something bigger.
“It is now a reality that Janette is also very much having to consider.
“It would be quite difficult for her to accept going backwards but she also needs to consider things long-term and how she is going to earn a living.
“She certainly won’t be back as a pro dancer this year and so she will spend the rest of 2026 trying to weave her way into another telly role.
“But if things continue to go downhill, she may be forced to head back to the dancefloor as a pro performer in order to earn her keep.”
The Sun has contacted a representative for Janette for comment.
