One of the hottest jobs in television is up for grabs after Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly both announced they would be stepping away from BBC show Strictly Come Dancing at the end of the current series.
In a statement from both presenters at the end of last month, they 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.
“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.”
Tess has been a part of the Strictly Come Dancing presenting line-up since the show started in 2004. Claudia Winkleman joined her as a co-presenter in 2014.
Peter Fincham, who was director of the BBC for two years until 2007, understands former This Morning host Holly will replace either Claudia Winkleman or Tess Daly, who are leaving Strictly after more than two decades associated with the programme.
According to reports from MailOnline, Mr Fincham said: “My hairdresser also cuts the hair of a well-known channel controller. What’s said in Harry’s the hairdresser stays in Harry’s. But he says with great confidence that Holly Willoughby will take over.”
Holly stepped away from This Morning after 14 years in October 2023. Earlier this year, in an exclusive chat with The Sunday Times, the star opened up about her terrifying experience with security guard stalker Gavin Plumb.
Plumb was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years in July 2024 after being found guilty of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder Holly.
In a twisted plot, he was on the hunt to find like-minded men who would help him stage a ‘home invasion’ in her home.
She said: “It’s been a tough one [year]. There’s no way of sugar-coating it but I’m healthy and I’m happy. I’ve got a wonderful husband and children and family, I’ve got great friends. Ichose to positively move forward and rely on all those people — the police, the court, the judge, the jury — all those people to do their role. That’s what I had to do.”
Holly’s return, is said to be backed with “great confidence” by the “well-known channel controller”, after Holly stepped down from her long-running gig on This Morning in 2023.
She has continued to present ITV’s Dancing On Ice and she’s also fronted Netflix reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt with Bear Grylls.