Strictly Come Dancing may be a thing of the past for Claudia Winkleman, but she’s thrown her support behind the new era of the BBC series.
The revamped show started on Saturday (19 September) with a pre-recorded launch episode in which new hosting trio Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe made their debut, and the pairings for this year’s series were revealed.
Winkleman herself approved of Willis’ hiring and shared an encouraging response when the former Big Brother and Voice UK presenter showcased her outfit of choice for the launch show.
Ahead of the episode’s broadcast, Willis wrote on Instagram: “Week one… I guess it’s officially happening then. Dress on, game face ready and fully prepared for the glitter to take over…Strictly, let’s be having you.”
The following day, Traitors presenter Winkleman replied “knockout” with four heart emojis.
At one stage in Willis, Radebe and Widdicombe’s first Strictly episode, Emmerdale star Lawrence Robb told the new hosts he feels he has “large shoes to fill” after the success of his fellow soap stars Kelvin Fletcher and Lewis Cope on the show in previous years, adding: “I guess I can empathise with you guys, filling Claudia and Tess’ boots.”
Tess Daly and Winkleman quit the series in October 2025. While they did not disclose their reason for stepping down at the time, Winkleman revealed months later that it had nothing to do with the scandals that rocked the show in recent years, but instead stemmed from their mutual 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.
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.
“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.
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