Featured Image Credit: John Phillips/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA
Topics: Strictly Come Dancing, TV, TV and Film, BBC, Claudia Winkleman
Emma Rosemurgey
Topics: Strictly Come Dancing, TV, TV and Film, BBC, Claudia Winkleman
It has only been mere hours since Strictly Come Dining veteran hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced they would be stepping down, and talk has already turned to their replacements.
The duo shared a joint video telling fans they would be leaving the BBC show at the end of this series after more than a decade of presenting together. Winkleman joined Daly as a co-host in 2014 after the late Sir Bruce Forsyth stepped down.
"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," they told fans in the clip posted this morning (23 October).
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"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.
"We will cry when we say the last 'keep dancing' but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza."
While the pair will undoubtedly be a big miss to Strictly fans, the world keeps turning and the glitter ball keeps shining, and now viewers are eager to know who we might be seeing on our screens this time next year.
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Well, the odds are in and according to Megaways Slots there are a few familiar faces tipped for the role that probably every presenter in the UK is currently vying for.
At the top of the leaderboard is former Strictly champion's Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton, who have been in a relationship since winning the show together in 2018. The couple, who share a daughter together, are the current market lead at 2/1.
Meanwhile, Rylan Clark and GK Barry both follow closely at 7/4, and BBC favourites Alex Jones and Gethin Jones sit at 4/1 and 9/2, alongside Fleur East (5/2), Janette Manrara (3/1), Karen Hauer (7/2) and Roman Kemp (6/1).
At the time of writing, the BBC are yet to comment on Winkleman and Daly's departure, however the pair have issued separate statements after sharing the news.
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"It’s very difficult to put into words exactly what Strictly has meant to me. It’s been the greatest relationship of my career. From working on It Takes Two in 2004 until now it has been my everything, the show I will be eternally grateful for," The Traitors host Winkleman said.
"I will never forget Len Goodman trying to teach me what a cucaracha is (I still don’t know) and the complete thrill and honour it was to work with Tess on the results show to co-hosting on Saturday nights."
Believing it's 'always best to leave a party before you're fully ready to go', Winkleman knows the new hosts will be 'magnificent' and looks forward to them taking the show to 'new heights'.
In a lengthy statement, Daly described Strictly as her 'third child' and a 'huge part' of her life since the first show in 2004. She gave thanks to the 'hardest-working team in television' as well as to the viewers for being the 'heart of this show'.