The rise and rise of the Strictly and Traitors star

In the cutthroat world of television, there is a famous motto practiced by many presenters: “Don’t give up a hit.”

That’s one of the reasons why Claudia Winkleman’s departure from Strictly Come Dancing alongside Tess Daly surprised many when it was announced last month.

But in Winkleman’s case, the big Saturday night show he hosted for 15 years was actually overshadowed by an even bigger event.

The Traitors, starring Winkleman in 2022, has become the jewel in the BBC’s crown, with its recent hit spin-off attracting more than 13 million viewers.

The show proved to be the perfect vehicle for Winkleman to showcase his product line. He’s tough and serious, with a dark side that viewers haven’t seen before, but he’s also goofy, campy and hot-headed – he always seems to really be on the contestants’ side.

“It would be hard to argue against the fact that he’s the number one emcee in the country right now,” says Alex Segal, managing director of talent agency InterTalent.

“Yes, of course you can defend Ant and Dec, but in terms of the number of great shows, the trajectory, the love for it… people watch a show for it as much as they watch it for the format, I think it’s in that moment right now.”

In an average year, viewers see Winkleman bouncing between a Scottish castle, a Hertfordshire ballroom and a railway station piano (the latter for Channel 4’s The Piano, in which he also fronts). But another place the 53-year-old may appear soon is on his own chat show.

Industry reports suggest that Winkleman is in advanced talks to host his own talk series – which Graham Norton is said to potentially produce with his own production company So Television, which also produces chat shows for the BBC.

“It’s a confirmation of Claudia’s meteoric rise over the last few years,” says Deadline’s Jake Kanter: Who reported the negotiations? “He’ll be very keen to do it, I’m told it’s a personal passion of his too.”

Although Winkleman is ostensibly positioned as Norton’s successor, there will be no direct conflict. His program would air in the months following The Graham Norton Show; remains a huge draw for audiences on television and social media – not on air.

Kanter states: Winkleman stepped in to replace Norton on an episode of the chat show earlier this year. “I’m sure that could have been the catalyst or the starting point for some discussion,” he says.

“They would see what he was doing, the BBC would like it and I’m sure they did some other work behind the scenes to make sure the format suited him.”

The BBC refused to comment on the chat show reports from BBC News, which is editorially independent from the company. Therefore, Television was also approached for an answer.

But given Winkleman’s current hot streak, which comes after a three-decade rise in television, a talk show would be a logical next step.

Winkleman is the daughter of newspaper editor Eve Pollard and book publisher Barry Winkleman. He studied art history at Cambridge before starting his television career in his twenties.

Ready to turn her hand to anything, she became a familiar face on BBC travel drama Holiday in the 1990s, and her CV has expanded with game shows, dating formats and children’s programmes.

But Winkleman, in typically self-deprecating fashion, suggested that the haircut had more to do with his success than his on-screen talent.

“You may hate my fringe, but I’m dead serious here, it’s gotten me a career,” she wrote in her 2020 memoir Pretty.

“I’m sure I got the job because when the producers were in a room thinking about the next TV show, handing out digestive lists and couldn’t remember the names, they said, ‘We can always get the orange one with the fringe.’

“Believe me, it’s not because I read it out loud better than anyone else… It’s because I have a thing, an adjective, a focus.”

Early in his career, Winkleman was also used as a pundit on daytime TV shows. For example, in 1996, Advertised as “chat expert” On a dating episode of Good Morning with Anne and Nick.

A fascinating clip. At 24, Winkleman’s voice is higher than it is today, and her English accent is more refined. But he was comfortable in front of the camera, and even three decades later his appeal is the same today as it was then.

“First of all, it’s funny,” says Frances Taylor, Radio Times’ TV preview editor. “He has natural comic timing and the ability to be entertaining.

“And then on top of that, there’s another layer to how self-deprecating that sense of humor is; that to me is his secret weapon, always ready to make himself the butt of the joke.”

It’s also “incredibly original,” Kanter adds. “When you see him at industry events, he’s his TV personality. He’s the best friend you’d ever want to have. He’s fun, he’s empathetic, he’s insightful, he’s sharp, and those qualities translate on screen.”

Even though he has a salary no longer broadcast by BBC, winkleman among the company’s top earners. In 2017 he was listed as earning more than £450,000.

But not everything he did was successful.

BBC One’s Britain’s Best Home Cook, for example, achieved relatively middling ratings despite the combined star power of Winkleman and Mary Berry.

Meanwhile, some felt he was less successful on Radio 2’s Saturday morning show than his predecessor Norton. The audience told the show was “brainless”, showing Winkleman “gushing” at his guests and asking obvious questions.

He also hosts the Channel 4 quiz show One Question points out Taylor. “But a lot of people haven’t heard of it, and a lot of people haven’t watched it.”

Off-screen, Winkleman, who lives in London, shares three children with her husband of 25 years, filmmaker Kris Thykier. HE he often spoke of his close-knit family life; desire to spend more time at home with their children.

The family also faced personal difficulties. Daughter Matilda was seriously injured in 2014 When she was eight years old, the witch costume she wore for Halloween caught fire while she was out trick-or-treating.

After putting out the flames with another parent, Winkleman took a brief break from Strictly and later campaigned for stricter fire safety laws on fancy dress costumes. Matilda, now 19, began studying at the University of Bath.

Unlike some of his peers like Gary Lineker or Rylan Clark, Winkleman is almost never involved in controversy. He does not share his political views and rarely gives interviews to news outlets.

“I have ideas, but ideas are never a good idea, right?” she told Gabby Logan’s podcast, The Mid Point. “Whatever you do, don’t have an opinion, that’s my general opinion.

“I also don’t think I have anything interesting to say. So I’m happy to talk about my love of candy and eyeliner. I don’t have anything to add, really.”

But he still had to deal with occasional difficult situations, such as when he was presenting the BBC’s entertainment bulletin Liquid News.

During a 2003 interview with S Club 7 about their impending breakup, Winkleman asked a sensitive question about reports that they were unhappy with their earnings. The group’s publisher entered the studio and stopped the interview.

But despite his rise, viewers may see less of Winkleman in the future, and not just because he’s losing Strictly’s Clauditorium.

“The more successful you are, the less work you do for a variety of reasons,” Segal says.

“If you reach a certain level, you overcome a lot. Your odds increase financially. Also, the more work you take on, the greater your risk of failure. And sometimes the way to limit that risk is to do less.”

Segal suspects there are “many shows hosted by other people that Claudia is her first choice for,” adding that Winkleman “is probably full of new ideas every day and would have to say no to 99% of them, talk show or not.”

Of course, Winkleman’s popularity does not guarantee that he will be a successful talk show host. Norton makes it look easy, but he’s a master of his trade.

Even Davina McCall, a hugely talented and popular presenter, struggled with her own chat show in 2006. It was the career move he regretted the most.

“Davina was as hot back then as Claudia is now, but her chat show didn’t work for audiences.” said former BBC One controller Peter Fincham on his podcast Insiders.

“Right now on television, chat shows hosted by people who are at the top of other types of shows don’t necessarily work.”

And as Claudia’s fame continues to grow, doing less may help save her from something else: the risk of public fatigue, and Kanter warns that’s “a thing” for presenters of her caliber.

“Are we reaching Claudia’s peak? Probably,” he says.

“I’m sure it’s something he and his manager have given some thought to.”