The timing of the Strictly Come Dancing presenters’ exit is odd: do they know something we don’t? Or did they just get sick of all the scandal?
When long-serving presenters leave a seemingly timeless franchise, two questions immediately arise. Why are they going? And who will replace them?
On the first point, the BBC will hope that the joint departure of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly from Strictly Come Dancing will be attributed to longevity – Daly has served a 21-year term, Winkleman 11 as a main co-host – and the impact on family life of a weekend gig.
Yet if diaries and tiredness were the primary reason for the hosts going, it would have been more likely to be announced much closer to the December end of season 23. This weekend’s shows are only the fifth week of 13.
And it cannot be denied – though the BBC would wish it could – that the appeal of spending 13 Saturday late nights with would-be hoofers in Elstree may have been reduced by almost two years of scandals or allegations about the alleged behaviour, language or favoured stimulants of some participants in the show. These headlines have not affected the presenters, but if you dance with a skunk, it will affect your own scent. At a certain point, agents would worry about contamination by association.
