Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are quitting. Is Strictly doomed?
The Times
Mark Borkowski, the highly seasoned showbusiness PR, doubts it. “I haven’t heard anything scandalous,” he says. “Tess and Claudia probably thought, ‘21 years, and it’s not so much fun any more.’ You know, it’s about jumping the lily pad in time. It’s not about hanging on. I think that they could have easily stayed with it. But all careers are brilliant when you actually make the move before it drags you under.”
For Daly and Winkleman, the future shines brighter for one than the other. With Traitors Winkleman is at a career high, and has another popular series, The Piano, on Channel 4. She is also a mother who left her prime Saturday morning spot on Radio 2 to “follow [her children] around at home before they leave for good”. But the world can wait. “She has got everything the Americans love in terms of a female presenter,” Borkowski says. “She’s got a strong sense of style and is English in a sort of modern way.”
He laughs at my suggestion that ITV may have made the pair an offer to compere its flagging This Morning. “They’re too big for it and the format is dead as well,” he says.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are quitting. Is Strictly doomed?