ALISON BOSHOFF: Why Claudia Winkleman’s post-Strictly career WASN’T hurt by quitting BBC chat show while former co-star Tess Daly suffers crises on all fronts

They were always an odd couple on TV on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Claudia Winkleman – quicksilver, effortlessly funny, skilled at reading people and situations – and former model Tess Daly, her co-host, were neither of these things, despite her unquestionable beauty.

Daly was hired as the ‘straight woman’ for Bruce Forsyth from the first series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004; apparently to bring charm, as Bruce’s female sidekicks did decades ago on the family show The Generation Game.

But even loyal Strictly viewers found her attitude harsh and her mini-interviews with contestants repetitive. She was routinely known as ‘Tess-bot’ on fan sites; unfortunately this took over twenty years.

While Claudia appropriated the role of ringmaster of the entertainment, lapsing into hysterics in the upstairs corral known as the Clauditorium, the hapless Tess looked decorative but utterly dull.

Claudia even outshone Tess in terms of style. While Claudia likes to joke that she’s naturally disheveled and looks ‘like a mature physics student caught in the rain and sleeping in the jump’ with her iconic heavy fringe and eyeliner, she’s become a style icon with trouser suits on Strictly and gothic tweed suits in The Traitors with the help of stylist Sinead McKeefry.

Tess’s looks never went beyond being big, bouncy, blonde, blow-dried, good-toothed, and tanned.

Claudia’s career has never been better since leaving Strictly last October, but Tess has suffered setbacks and crises on every front.

Tess started out as a ‘straight woman’, according to Strictly’s first presenter Bruce Forsyth

From Strictly Claudia went on to present Crufts on Channel 4, her own chat show on BBC1 and more repeats of smash hit The Traitors; Tess is apparently weighing up an offer for a show on Magic Radio and considering the losses at bikini company Naia Beach.

Yesterday’s news that Claudia has abandoned her option for a second series of BBC1’s The Claudia Winkleman Show confirms that she is at the peak of her professional powers.

As one source explained to me, he’s only doing the shows he wants to make, and he’s not really into this high-profile project, so that’s it.

Claudia herself explained: ‘Sometimes you have to try something on to see how it fits, and I found I was too nervous to enjoy it.’

Jeff Foulser, chairman of production and media company Sunset and Vine, which hired Claudia to present Crufts on Channel 4, said her success in launching and directing her own chat show remains remarkable.

‘Getting the best out of people like the doyen Michael Parkinson requires an understanding of journalism. ‘All Crufts adored him and he was brilliant… but you can never legislate how people feel in front of a live audience,’ he said.

David Sumnall, producer of Channel 5 documentary Claudia Winkleman: Behind the Fringe, said: ‘If Claudia feels she can’t do it, then who can?’ He added: ‘The reason people love him is because he’s so human: admitting you don’t enjoy it is something very few people would do, and it’s very refreshing.’

It’s also a move only someone with nothing to prove would make: Saying that you left the highest-profile job of your career because it wasn’t a good fit.

Claudia’s first job in television was as a reporter on BBC1’s long-running travel series Holiday in the 1990s.

Claudia with her father Barry, mother Eve Pollard and husband Kris Thykier outside Windsor Castle with her MBE last year

Claudia’s manager, Holly Bott, is one of the best in the business, and she (along with Claudia) left the YMU agency and struck out on her own, running a new talent agency alongside Claudia’s filmmaker husband Kris Thykier.

Poor Tess, whose marriage to fellow DJ and TV presenter Vernon Kay ended this year, remains at YMU, unable to pull off any magic moves for her.

She and Vernon announced their separation in May with ‘deep concern and respect for each other’ and said they remained friends. They chose to resolve their divorce cleanly and inexpensively through online lawyers.

But while Vernon always shares likes and loving comments on his wife’s Instagram account, it’s notable that Tess doesn’t return the favor.

She has apparently struggled to overcome the lingering memories of the 2010 scandal in which she was caught sending saucy messages to lingerie model Rhian Sugden, but they have also drifted apart, as people can over the course of 23 years. Daughters Phoebe and Amber are 21 and 16.

Her friend Vanessa Feltz said: ‘No one in showbiz is anything but gutted at the news that Tess Daly and Vernon Kay are taking a break from their marriage. ‘They are lovely, cheerful and generous.’

Claudia is happily married to filmmaker Thykier.

They got married in 2000 in a beautiful wedding in the South of France. They have three children: Jake, Matilda and Arthur, Claudia’s beloved dog Skip, and a stellar group of friends on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to Kris’ connections.

Tess appeared decorative but utterly boring on Strictly and was routinely known as ‘Tess-bot’ on fan sites.

Tess’s marriage to fellow DJ and TV presenter Vernon Kay ended earlier this year

Home is a townhouse in central London and has a country house for weekends in the Cotswolds. Kris is on a shoot with movie producer Guy Ritchie (he and Claudia attended Ritchie’s wedding to Madonna), and Kris and Claudia are apparently very hot bridge players.

There were few signs that Claudia would achieve such great success in her early years on television.

I would often encounter him on party circles in the late 1990s. At the time, Claudia was working on shows like Liquid News, which was barely watched, and the truly awful Talking Telephone Numbers game show with Phillip Schofield.

In 1999 he starred in Trading Up, a car-themed game show on Channel 4. He said: ‘If I told you that I took a nap while filming the movie, does that give you an idea of ​​how interesting that was? ‘I don’t even like cars, I can’t even drive, I can’t spell car.’

He was always exactly the person you saw on screen; he was sharp, funny and completely himself.

Winkleman is the daughter of groundbreaking journalist and newspaper editor Eve Pollard and book publisher Barry Winkleman. His stepfather, Sir Nicholas Lloyd, was also a newspaper editor.

He once said the family motto was: ‘Don’t worry about being interesting. Take care.’

Claudia studied art history at New Hall, Cambridge, and started her first job in an art gallery, but left after four days, complaining of boredom.

His first job in television was a cushy gig; In the early 1990s he was reporting for the BBC’s long-running travel series Holiday.

He also appeared once on ITV’s This Morning, being cut in half by a magician. He even appeared as a ‘dating expert’ on Good Morning with Anne and Nick in 1996. Her role in the BBC’s Film show, previously presented by Barry Norman and Jonathan Ross, was not considered a huge success.

Claudia went straight from presenting Crufts on Channel 4 to Strictly…

…and his own chat show on BBC1, from which he recently rejected a second series

It looked like he would do anything to gain acceptance.

And yet, after two decades of hard work, he has been transformed into a huge star by Strictly, the BBC’s entertainment crown jewel.

He got his start in 2004 on the supporting show It Takes Two, and six years later became co-host of Sunday’s results show. Then, when Bruce Forsyth decided to move on in 2010, he stepped lightly into his loafers.

It helped that she was already friends with all the dancers and knew the show inside out, but it became a strong factor in the show’s continued popularity as it helped make it fun to watch.

Danny Cohen was the BBC’s director of television at the time and says the decision to promote him was an easy one.

He said: ‘He’s very talented but he doesn’t show it. He has a quality that the best presenters have; You enjoy being around them and want to spend time with them.’

Starting in 2022, he added another big hit show, The Traitors, to his resume. He was hesitant at first.

‘When the BBC asked me to go to Scotland for three weeks I said, ‘Oh, thanks for asking…’ ‘No. I said, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ They sent me the Dutch version and I was told to take the risk. I watched it and after three episodes I said I would get on the train and I would.’

There were still doubts. Claudia said: “I remember phoning my husband and saying: ‘I think it’s over. I’ve had a good run, but I’m standing in a field clutching a ceremonial bag containing red leather gloves I bought on Amazon. Put the kettle on the stove. “I’ll come back and we won’t talk about it.”

Winkleman jokes that the reason for his success is simple.

‘I don’t think I would have a career if I didn’t have fringes. When producers can’t remember the names of potential hosts, they say: ‘Get the orange one with the tassels!'”