How Strictly’s Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman blazed a trail for women on TV

The duo have co-hosted Strictly Come Dancing since 2014

Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly made history as primetime TV’s first female presenting duo when they paired up to co-host Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.

Since then, they have guided the BBC show through 11 years of celebrity contestants, countless routines and controversies.

They now say the time is right to hand over the “sparkly baton”.

Daly has been with Strictly since its 2004 inception, initially alongside Sir Bruce Forsyth. Winkleman joined the main show a decade later, having hosted spin-off It Takes Two since 2004.

Daly, a former model, first appeared on television in 1999, hosting Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast’s Find Me A Model competition.

In 2002, she presented coverage from backstage at the National Television Awards (NTAs) for ITV2 and in 2003 she replaced Ulrika Jonsson as presenter of ITV makeover show Home On Their Own.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman in the press room after winning the Best Entertainment award for Strictly Come Dancing at the BAFTA TV Awards 2024

A year later she was hired as co-host of Channel 5’s Back To Reality, with Richard Bacon, which saw 12 reality TV stars live together in a west London mansion.

She reached new levels of fame as co-host of Strictly, which she presented with Sir Bruce until he stepped down three years before his death at the age of 89.

Across her career she has interviewed stars including Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, rock band No Doubt and US musician Lenny Kravitz.

She also appeared alongside Sir Terry Wogan when they co-hosted coverage of annual charity appeal show BBC Children In Need, which she has presented numerous times.

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Daly, along with her husband Vernon Kay, whom she married in 2003, have been patrons for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity since 2007.

In March 2023, she released a food and fitness guide featuring recipes and wellness tips, titled 4 Steps: To A Happier, Healthier You.

Winkleman has more recently won plaudits as the host of hit BBC show The Traitors – as well as its spin-off celebrity version, which is currently airing.

After graduating with a degree in history of art from the University of Cambridge, she began her career as a TV and radio presenter, fronting a range of BBC TV shows including Comic Relief and The Great British Sewing Bee.

Winkleman and Daly during a live Strictly Come Dancing show

She presented on BBC Radio 2 until 2024, and has hosted Channel 4’s general knowledge gameshow One Question and music competition show The Piano.

She is also a trustee of the British Museum and a patron of Child Bereavement UK.

Together, Daly and Winkleman won praise for their presenting style as Strictly became one of the biggest shows on UK television.

In 2024, which marked the show’s 20th anniversary year, they picked up the entertainment programme gong at the Bafta TV Awards.

Their tenure has seen many memorable moments – from The Wanted singer Jay McGuiness’s electrifying Pulp Fiction jive and the Bafta-winning performance from Rose Ayling-Ellis, the first deaf contestant to take part in the show, to former politician Ed Balls’ dance to Gangnam Style.

Their departure comes after a series of controversies for the show.

In 2023, participant Amanda Abbington made allegations about the behaviour of professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, while other previous contestants also spoke out about duty of care issues.

And in 2024, Welsh tenor and former BBC Radio Wales presenter Wynne Evans was dropped by the BBC after he made an apology saying that he used “inappropriate language” during the launch of the Strictly Come Dancing tour.

Winkleman joined Daly as co-host of Strictly Come Dancing following the departure of Sir Bruce Forsyth in 2004

Months later, EastEnders star James Borthwick was also suspended from the broadcaster after a video emerged of the actor using a disabled slur on the set of the dance programme.

Both Daly and Winkleman say hosting Strictly has been “an absolute dream”.

Speaking after being made an MBE in June, Daly said of Strictly: “I love that for the last 20 years our only agenda has been joy. It’s been just feel-good entertainment, and being a part of that has felt like a gift.”

She added: “I’ve got so many wonderful memories from working with Sir Bruce Forsyth back in the beginning, 2004, to working with Claudia and being the first all-female presenting duo on primetime telly, and that meant a lot as a mother of girls, to sort of pave the way, that felt quite important at the time, because it hadn’t been done before.

“So to be a part of that and to stand by Claude – Claudia – is absolutely brilliant fun, and to do that with her at that time felt quite groundbreaking.”