Claudia Winkleman has shed light on her decision to bow out of Strictly Come Dancing alongside Tess Daly for the first time.
In a joint statement announcing their departure in October 2025, the pair said hosting the show had been “an absolute dream”, but didn’t reveal why they decided to leave.
Winkleman, 54, has now claimed it had nothing to do with the scandals that rocked the show in recent years, but instead stemmed from a feeling that the show needed some new faces.
“It occurred to both of us about a year before,” she told MailOnline. “The show deserves new. We wanted to leave when we were on an absolute high.”
When asked if her decision had anything to do with the scandal surrounding Giovanni Pernice and Amanda Abbington, which prompted a review into the professional dancers’ behind-the-scenes behaviour, the presenter said: “Absolutely not.”
She continued: “It is a genuinely beautiful show to be part of. Almost every single person who’s taken part is happy they did. So no, it wasn’t that.”
Winkleman said that after she and Daly filmed their final piece to camera in the latest series’s live final, she went to her husband, film producer Kris Thykier, and sobbed over the “momentous” exit. “It was 20 years of my life,” she added.
The presenter remained coy when asked who could replace them, but strong favourites include Zoe Ball and Alex Jones. An announcement is expected in the summer ahead of the new series, which will launch in September.
Winkleman and Daly, 56, received a special message from Queen Camilla during their final live episode in December 2025. Read aloud by judge Craig Revel Horwood, she said the pair’s “warmth, compassion and sheer happiness” had been at the core of the show’s success.
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“I think I speak for everyone when I say you have been utterly fab-u-lous,” the Queen’s message said.
Daly began presenting the show 21 years ago alongside the late Sir Bruce Forsyth, while Winkleman joined her in 2014, having hosted Strictly’s sister show It Takes Two since 2004.
Winkleman will now be kept busy presenting The Traitors and its celebrity spin-off, as well as her very own BBC chat show, which is set to launch in March.
