Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly have announced that they are stepping down as hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.
In a post on both presenters’ Instagram accounts, Winkleman said: “There have been some rumblings and we want you to hear this from us.”
Daly continued: “We have some news. After 21 wonderfully joyful years on Strictly we have decided that the time is right to step aside and pass over the baton.”
“The very sparkly baton!” added Winkleman.
“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 ...”
“We will cry when we say our last ‘Keep dancing!’ but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza!”
Daly has hosted Strictly Come Dancing since 2004, when she co-presented the show alongside Bruce Forsyth. After he left the series in 2013, he was replaced by Winkleman, who had been hosting companion show Strictly: It Takes Two, as well as joining Daly on the Sunday night results shows since 2010.
The duo have announced that they will continue to host the BBC dance contest until the end of the current series, which is the 23rd outing for the long-running entertainment format.
“It’s very difficult to put into words exactly what Strictly has meant to me. It’s been the greatest relationship of my career,” said Winkleman. “Strictly is a magical, glittery, fake tanned train and it’s been a privilege to be a tiny part of it ... I’ve always believed it’s best to leave a party before you’re fully ready to go and I know the new hosts will be magnificent, I look forward to watching them take Strictly to new heights. As for Tess – I’m so so lucky I got to stand next to you. You’re funny, kind, whip smart and a true friend and I love you.”
The presenting duo have long been one of the most beloved parts of Strictly Come Dancing. When Winkleman became a permanent co-host of the show in 2014, her appointment was heralded as an important step forward for female representation in the TV industry, with Daly announcing at the time that “It’s really exciting having two women host the show”. In June, Daly’s long service on the show saw her receive an MBE for services to broadcasting.
The departure of the two long-running hosts is the latest blow for a show that has been mired in scandal in recent years. A misconduct and bullying investigation in 2024 led to two pros, Giovanni Pernice and Graziano di Prima, leaving the show. Di Prima admitted that he had kicked his dance partner, Zara McDermott, and the BBC had to apologise to former contestant Amanda Abbington after the investigation upheld a number of complaints of verbal bullying and harassment she had brought against Pernice.
Strictly had hoped to move on from scandal for its 2025 edition, but in August it was reported that the BBC had launched an investigation into alleged cocaine use by two of the show’s stars. It was followed by the arrest of a star on suspicion of rape, with the unnamed man in his 30s also being detained on a separate alleged offence of non-consensual intimate image abuse – although the BBC stated that the person in question was not involved in this year’s series.
The BBC is yet to comment on who might be potential replacements for the presenting duo.
