{"id":334124,"date":"2025-12-25T00:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/334124\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T00:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:35:07","slug":"tess-daly-and-claudia-winkleman-to-present-strictly-for-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/334124\/","title":{"rendered":"Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to present Strictly for last time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The current Strictly series, which began in September, was seen in media circles as something of a reboot for the long-running hit BBC show.<\/p>\n

It follows last year’s controversies relating to the behaviour of some professional dancers, and in August, the launch of a BBC investigation<\/a> into alleged drug use by two of the show’s stars, and an unnamed star being arrested on suspicion of rape<\/a> (it is understood the development was not related to the current series).<\/p>\n

BBC bosses were keen for fans and the media to return to talking about the show itself.<\/p>\n

But the scandals have not stopped. In October, a second unnamed star from the show was arrested on suspicion of rape. That development, which was reported in November<\/a>, is also understood not to be linked to the current series.<\/p>\n

Bullimore says it is “difficult to know” whether the various scandals played into Daly and Winkleman’s decision to leave.<\/p>\n

But she also said despite the controversies, hosting it would remain “very attractive” to any presenter.<\/p>\n

There has been speculation that the format might be paused for a year, to reset after the scandals. But Bullimore said she did not think that was likely.<\/p>\n

“Strictly is still really, really important for the BBC,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You would need to find something to fill that gap in the schedules. And that’s a hard thing to do.”<\/p>\n

Culture journalist Natalie Jamieson said she would miss the show if it took a break.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrictly’s a cross-generational watch in my household – my daughter messages her grandma every week as the dances are happening – and I’d be sad if that cycle was disrupted for a year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But she added that if it was rested, even only for a year, \u201cit could also open up opportunities to showcase other inspirational and aspirational aspects of culture and the arts through a potentially new TV show format, and that would be exciting\u201d.<\/p>\n

The BBC has said plans for what the show will look like in 2026 will be revealed in due course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The current Strictly series, which began in September, was seen in media circles as something of a reboot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-334124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}