Strictly Come Dancing will not relocate to Manchester for its 2026 series despite reports claiming otherwise.
A BBC spokesperson confirmed to The Independent on Tuesday (16 December) that “there are no plans to move” the dancing competition from London to Salford, where a number of the corporation’s shows are filmed.
It was claimed that the BBC’s chief content officer, Kate Phillips, was “seriously” considering the relocation to give the show a clean break after 21 years on air.
But the alleged move is “pure speculation”, and Strictly will remain in London for its next series, which will be without its usual hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
This Saturday’s Strictly grand final will be the hosting duo’s last ever episode of the programme. There will also be a 2025 Christmas special, airing on 25 December, but it was filmed earlier this month.
The pair became emotional during Sunday night’s results show when the judges surprised them with a video montage commemorating their time on Strictly.
Speaking in the video, head judge Shirley Ballas said: “Between the two of them, they are magic. They showed me the ropes and cared about me and I, for sure, am going to miss them deeply.”
An emotional Winkleman responded: “We love you, we’re so lucky. It's been an honour.” Daly added: “You guys are like family to us and we’ll always think that about you all. We’ve had the most amazing time.”
Daly, 56, has hosted the show for 21 years, while Winkleman, 53, joined as co-presenter on the main show in 2014, having previously hosted the Sunday night results show.
Contenders to replace the hosts include Zoe Ball, who fully quit Radio 2 earlier this month, The One Show host Alex Jones, and Celebrity Traitors winner Alan Carr.
Holly Willoughby, Bradley Walsh, Rylan and Rob Rinder are also said to be in the running.
After announcing their departure, both Daly and Winkleman said in a statement: “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.
“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.”
The Strictly final will see Lioness Karen Carney, YouTube star George Clarke and actor Amber Davies battle it out for the glitterball trophy after the semi-final saw EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal finish in fourth place.
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