After announcing her shock exit from Strictly Come Dancing, Claudia Winkleman’s next role has been revealed. She and co-host Tess Daly are said to have ‘blindsided’ the BBC with their departure announcement, but The Traitors’ star is already poised to take up another exciting position with the network.
Claudia and Tess announced their exit on Thursday (23 October) morning via Instagram. They posted a joint video explaining that it was time to leave and that they had a pact to leave together.
There has been a lot of speculation about why they chose now to go and what they will do next. While the two have remained tight-lipped about that, it appears that Claudia may be in talks to host her own Graham Norton-style chat show that will see her in conversation with huge A-listers.
Claudia and Tess are leaving Strictly(Image: BBC)
Deadline reported that the company behind The Graham Norton Show, So Television, are in the advanced stages of talks with Claudia to host her own chat show that they would produce. A deal has not yet be signed, but the publication implied it is not far off.
Claudia has hosted The Graham Norton Show itself before, filling in for the Irish presenter when he was on a break from his BBC duties earlier this year.
The BBC have renewed the chat show for another three years, and Claudia’s proposed show would be on whilst Graham’s is off-air, so that they do not compete for audiences or guests.
Claudia might be getting a chat show(Image: PA)
These talks are happening despite the fact that the BBC was rumoured to have been “blindsided” by Claudia and Tess’ announcement. Unusually, the company did not release a statement on their exit until two hours after the pair spoke about it.
A source told The Sun that though Claudia and Tess have “had their departure video in drafts for weeks” no one else knew. “The celebs on this year’s show had no idea – everyone was blindsided by the news.” The Mirror reached out for comment at the time.
Both presenters will remain on the show until the end of the series. During their remaining time, the Christmas Special will be filmed, so their final episode to be aired will go out on Christmas Day.
In their statement, the duo said: “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.”
