Strictly Come Dancing hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they will be leaving the show at the end of the current season.
The dynamic duo released a joint statement on Instagram on Thursday explaining that they decided it was time to “step aside and pass over the baton.” After “rumblings” about their position on the show, the hosts said that they wanted Strictly’s “loyal and supportive” fans “to hear this from us.”
They plan to “have a great rest of this amazing series” and wanted to say, “an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show.” The pair also extended thanks and praise to the Strictly team, stating that they are “the very best team in television.”
Daly has been Strictly’s host since the very first series, which aired 21 years ago, with Winkleman joining in 2014 following Bruce Forsyth’s departure. Winkleman has also hosted Strictly’s sister programme It Takes Two since 2004.
They stated that “hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream” but that they “were always going to leave together.” The show is a contender for one of the BBC’s most watched shows, so it is hard to tell how their departure will affect the ratings. The pair are extremely popular among fans.
They concluded the statement saying, “We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’ but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”
Week 5 of this season’s Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday at 6:25 pm on BBC One. Daly and Winkleman will address the live audience for the first time since making their shocking announcement.