Claudia Winkleman

Bradley Walsh got tongues wagging when he rocked up at the Strictly Come Dancing studio after hosts, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkelman sensationally announced they’re quitting the show

Bradley Walsh has added fuel to rumours he’ll host Strictly after he was seen backstage with the show’s crew over the weekend. The presenter, 65, is odds-on favourite to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as hosts of Strictly when they step down at the end of the current series.

Gladiators host, Bradley, is reportedly in final talks to host the primetime programme after dynamic duo, Tess and Claudia, sensationally announced they were quitting in October.

Bradley headed to the BBC studio during a break in filming ITV’s The Chase, where he posed for a selfie with the crew from the dance show. Both The Chase and Strictly are filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

READ MORE: New Strictly Come Dancing host ‘revealed’ as top presenter seen on setREAD MORE: Strictly spoiler leaves fans ‘absolutely devastated’ as they demand second opinion

Head dressmaker Theresa Hewlett shared a photograph with star on X, formerly Twitter, with a smile a mile wide, posing alongside her colleagues ahead of Saturday’s live show.

She captioned the post: “The Chase is filmed next door and he popped in to say hi. What a lovely man Bradley Walsh is!”

Meanwhile a source told The Sun: “Bradley’s appearance in the studio has certainly set tongues wagging. Bosses are keen for Bradley to take over. He is a real pro and has brilliant experience hosting live shows.

“Producers need a safe pair of hands to steady the ship amid so much damage. Of course, he’d have a female alongside him as part of a duo.

And that female, is reported to be The One Show’s Alex Jones, who took part in Strictly in 2011. A source told the publication: “Alex and Bradley are both the favourites to take over from Tess and Claudia… they have been in the BBC’s sights for some time.”

“Alex is a massive fan of Strictly, too, so this would be the dream gig for her.”

The insider clarified that “nothing is set in stone yet”, but said discussions involving the pair had been “moving in a really positive direction” so far.

Tess and Claudia stunned Strictly fans when they posted a joint video in October, announcing they were calling it quits.

Addressing viewers, 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 just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and 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.”

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One celebrity will be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing this weekend

One Strictly Come Dancing star could end up missing out on the semi-final as they’re dealt a devastating blow.

This weekend, another celebrity will be booted from the competition, and it’s not looking promising for one celebrity couple.

Whilst Balvinder Sopal is the bookmakers’ favourite to depart the competition this weekend, it appears it’s also grim news for Alex Kingston and Amber Davies, as they could also miss out on claiming the Glitterball Trophy.

According to exclusive odds provided by Betway, Balvinder has odds of 250/1 of departing this weekend, whilst Alex Kingston has 33/1, and Amber has odds of 20/1 of leaving before the semi-final, which takes place in two weeks’ time.

Nevertheless, the top three frontrunners predicted to reach the final are George Clarke, Karen Carney and Lewis Cope, reports Wales Online.

Last weekend, presenters Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly announced that no elimination would take place after La Voix was forced to withdraw from the competition.

It was a shocking moment for the remaining celebrities, but it meant none of them were at risk of being axed from the show.

La Voix and her dance partner, Aljaz Skorjanec, appeared on Saturday’s show to discuss their decision to withdraw.

La Voix broke down as she said, “I came into the show as a minority, as a redhead, and you’ve all embraced me wonderfully.

“I cannot thank you enough… this is not how I wanted my journey to end,’ before joking: “At least it gives someone else in this competition a chance to win.”

Aljaz added, “I’ve been lucky this year. I’ve made two friends for life. On Saturdays/ Sundays, we all laugh with La Voix, and from Monday to Friday, I had the best time with Chris.

“I haven’t done a single crunch in the past six months, but I’ve got my six pack back, it’s amazing.

“Like Motsi said, ‘We all need it. The world needs more of you. Strictly needed it, you made my life a joy.. You are so beautiful in what you do.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday on BBC One.

Alan Carr is back with a new series of Changing Ends – however, he may be following in the footsteps of his Celebrity Traitors co-star Claudia Winkleman as Strictly’s new host

The job offers haven’t stopped rolling in for Alan Carr since his momentous Celebrity Traitors win, with the comedian even tipped to take over hosting duties on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing. While he’s back with a new series of his hit comedy Changing Ends, the 49-year-old admits he’s unsure whether he could handle the challenge of stepping into Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s sparkly shoes.

“My name is in the hat,” he says. “What an honour. It’s a bit like when my name got bandied about for Britain’s Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off – I’m always on the periphery.

“I don’t know how serious it is. No one has approached me. People are so passionate about it and you saw me sweating in the castle when I was a Traitor, imagine me doing live telly with how many million people watching!”

READ MORE: BBC Celebrity Traitors star admits ‘one thing dawned on me early on’READ MORE: Celebrity Traitors finalist says ‘this is what Claudia Winkleman was really like’

Although, after a star turn on The Celebrity Traitors, he knows how to convincingly lie – and that could come in handy on Strictly. “If someone’s cha-cha-cha is a bit s**t, I’ve got the poker face!” he jokes.

“So many things have come from The Celebrity Traitors – so many job offers coming in – I’d be flattered but I don’t know if I could do it [Strictly] justice. I just don’t want to ruin it for people.”

Alan is back on more familiar ground with Changing Ends – the semi-autobiographical sitcom about his childhood in 1980s Northampton. Series three follows teenage Alan (played by Bafta nominee Oliver Savell) as he navigates obstacles such as stressful swimming lessons, and, more importantly, his first big crush – young Alan is smitten with Jake, the Saturday boy at the charity shop.

“I really got into charity shopping,” Alan smiles. “I used to go in there every Saturday and flick through the posters to catch his eye. I must have stunk like an old woman because I would get flares, I wore my dad’s sheepskin and we didn’t have dry cleaning like we do these days.

“I just wanted to be in love really. It still hasn’t happened!” With Alan now single after divorcing ex-husband Paul Drayton back in 2022, is he hoping his teenage crush will reach the real-life inspiration behind Jake?

“The boy knew then because I was just as unsubtle as I am now,” he laughs. “When I went back to Northampton, I saw him queuing up at a cash point. My knees went to jelly and I thought, ‘Oh my God, there he is.’ But I didn’t want to say hi.

“There’s still something there, but I don’t want a Surprise Surprise moment. He had his chance and he missed it! He could be dating a national treasure now.”

Fans will already know that Alan’s father Graham was famous himself – having been a professional footballer in the 1960s who went on to manage Northampton Town among other clubs. However, the new series also sees Alan’s mother Christine embracing life as a local WAG.

“We would drop my brother [Gary] off at Beavers and me and mum would sit in the Tesco café for an hour with a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun,” he says. “I remember this woman coming over in the canteen to ask for an autograph – I mean, it was funny.

“It sounds weird but in Northampton, my dad was famous – people would stop him. My mum didn’t get the same standard as my dad, but it was funny. She was stopped a few times and people whispered, ‘That’s Graham Carr’s wife.’ Now she gets, ‘That’s Alan Carr’s mum – that’s the Traitor’s mum!’”

Christine isn’t always pleased with how Alan portrays his childhood, with Nancy Sullivan and Shaun Dooley playing his long-suffering parents. “My mum goes, ‘Oh Alan, it wasn’t that obvious you were gay when you were a child.’ My mum, bless her – she’s still that she-wolf who goes up the school. ‘Don’t you pick on my Alan, he does fancy girls!’ I don’t think she realises how camp I am, she just loves me.”

Both his parents visited the show’s “surreal” set in Enfield, north London, which completely recreates his childhood home. “My poor dad walked up the stairs and nearly fell to his death because he thought the bedroom was upstairs,” he says. “How weird is that? It’s identical to the house. To have it decompartmentalised in a warehouse is so strange.”

As for whether we can expect more episodes of Changing Ends in the future, Alan says that it’s up to the fans. “I like the stage it’s at – that weird puberty stage,” he says. “If people are watching and they want it to come back, I’ll think about writing some more.

“But when it gets to the call centre years at 18 and when I started packing shampoo and dog food, I think I’m going to run out of stories because that was a really bleak time. It could be like The Office and be called The Warehouse!”

Although, after managing to make it all the way to the very end of The Celebrity Traitors without being found out as a Traitor, Alan is concerned that viewers won’t trust him any more. “I want it to be really authentic, but I worry now after doing The Celebrity Traitors people aren’t going to believe a word of Changing Ends!” he laughs.

Changing Ends airs Sunday at 10:05pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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Alan Carr has shared a huge update on replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman as the presenter of Strictly Come Dancing following his victory on Celebrity Traitors

The job offers haven’t stopped rolling in for Alan Carr since his momentous Celebrity Traitors win, with the comedian even tipped to take over hosting duties on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing.

While he’s back with a new series of his hit comedy Changing Ends, the 49-year-old admits he’s unsure whether he could handle the challenge of stepping into Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s sparkly shoes.

“My name is in the hat,” he says. “What an honour. It’s a bit like when my name got bandied about for Britain’s Got Talent and The Great British Bake Off – I’m always on the periphery.

“I don’t know how serious it is. No one has approached me. People are so passionate about it and you saw me sweating in the castle when I was a Traitor, imagine me doing live telly with how many million people watching!”

Although after a star turn on The Celebrity Traitors, he knows how to convincingly lie – and that could come in handy on Strictly. If someone’s cha-cha-cha is a bit s**t, I’ve got the poker face!” he jokes.

“So many things have come from The Celebrity Traitors – so many job offers coming in – I’d be flattered, but I don’t know if I could do it [Strictly] justice. I just don’t want to ruin it for people.”

Alan is back on more familiar ground with Changing Ends – the semi-autobiographical sitcom about his childhood in 1980s Northampton.

Series three follows teenage Alan (played by Bafta nominee Oliver Savell) as he navigates obstacles such as stressful swimming lessons, and, more importantly, his first big crush – young Alan is smitten with Jake, the Saturday boy at the charity shop.

“I really got into charity shopping,” Alan smiles. “I used to go in there every Saturday and flick through the posters to catch his eye. I must have stunk like an old woman because I would get flares, I wore my dad’s sheepskin and we didn’t have dry cleaning like we do these days.

“I just wanted to be in love really. It still hasn’t happened!” With Alan now single after divorcing ex-husband Paul Drayton back in 2022, is he hoping his teenage crush will reach the real-life inspiration behind Jake?

“The boy knew then because I was just as unsubtle as I am now,” he laughs. “When I went back to Northampton, I saw him queuing up at a cash point. My knees went to jelly and I thought, ‘Oh my God, there he is.’ But I didn’t want to say hi.

“There’s still something there, but I don’t want a Surprise Surprise moment. He had his chance and he missed it! He could be dating a national treasure now.”

Fans will already know that Alan’s father Graham was famous himself – having been a professional footballer in the 1960s who went on to manage Northampton Town among other clubs. However, the new series also sees Alan’s mother Christine embracing life as a local WAG.

“We would drop my brother [Gary] off at Beavers and me and mum would sit in the Tesco café for an hour with a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun,” he says. “I remember this woman coming over in the canteen to ask for an autograph – I mean, it was funny.

“It sounds weird, but in Northampton, my dad was famous – people would stop him. My mum didn’t get the same standard as my dad, but it was funny. She was stopped a few times and people whispered, ‘That’s Graham Carr’s wife.’ Now she gets, ‘That’s Alan Carr’s mum – that’s the Traitor’s mum!’”

Christine isn’t always pleased with how Alan portrays his childhood, with Nancy Sullivan and Shaun Dooley playing his long-suffering parents.

“My mum goes, ‘Oh Alan, it wasn’t that obvious you were gay when you were a child.’ My mum, bless her – she’s still that she-wolf who goes up the school. ‘Don’t you pick on my Alan, he does fancy girls!’ I don’t think she realises how camp I am, she just loves me.”

Both his parents visited the show’s “surreal” set in Enfield, north London, which completely recreates his childhood home. “My poor dad walked up the stairs and nearly fell to his death because he thought the bedroom was upstairs,” he says. “How weird is that? It’s identical to the house. To have it decompartmentalised in a warehouse is so strange.”

As for whether we can expect more episodes of Changing Ends in the future, Alan says that it’s up to the fans.

“I like the stage it’s at – that weird puberty stage,” he says. “If people are watching and they want it to come back, I’ll think about writing some more.

“But when it gets to the call centre years at 18 and when I started packing shampoo and dog food, I think I’m going to run out of stories because that was a really bleak time. It could be like The Office and be called The Warehouse!”

Although, after managing to make it all the way to the very end of The Celebrity Traitors without being found out as a Traitor, Alan is concerned that viewers won’t trust him any more.

“I want it to be really authentic, but I worry now after doing The Celebrity Traitors people aren’t going to believe a word of Changing Ends!” he laughs.

Changing Ends, Sunday 23 November, 10.05pm, ITV1 and ITVX

Alan Carr has been spotted charging down the street in his Celebrity Traitors cloak whilst brandishing a lantern on a night out in London following his victory on the BBC show

Alan Carr has been spotted charging down the street in his Celebrity Traitors cloak whilst brandishing a lantern. The comedian, 49, was chosen as a Traitor by Claudia Winkleman and then emerged victorious as the winner of the recent BBC series after weeks of lying to his co-stars, managing to walk off with the grand prize, all in the name of charity.

Just days after his final scenes in the Scottish castle aired, the Changing Ends star was seen in a TikTok video wearing his famous costume from the series on a night out in London and yelled to his fans: “F*****g Faithfuls!”

Once the video was posted onto social media, he received approval from big name brands like Sky, Next, Specsavers and Asda in the comments section, before fans of the former Chatty Man host all piled in with their reactions. One said: “How is he not Sir Alan Carr yet?”

READ MORE: BBC Celebrity Traitors star admits he lied to wife after filmingREAD MORE: Alan Carr lined up for two major TV roles after Celebrity Traitors win

Another wrote: “A true icon,” whilst a third added: “It’s Alan’s world we’re just living in it!” It all comes just days after nearly 12 million viewers watched the funnyman con Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga into believing he was a Faithful in the programme’s hotly-anticipated finale.

The finale was filled with shocks, first with Traitor Cat Burns being voted off thanks to a change of heart from Joe Marler, and then Joe also being shown the door after Nick Mohammed got cold feet about him at the last minute.

Viewers saw Alan burst into tears as he won the prize, telling them: “I’m so sorry, it’s been tearing me apart.” Speaking afterwards the comic, 49, said he couldn’t help the outpouring of emotion at the very end as he was revealed as a traitor to losing faithful Nick and David Olusoga.

“I think all the deceit, the lying, the murdering of Paloma and Celia had all taken its toll and then I think it dawned on me that I had won such a huge amount for my charity, Neuroblastoma UK,” he explained. “Hopefully when people see how upset I was they won’t feel so bad that I killed all those national treasures.”

He said that when he told the charity the good news about his £87,500 win they were overwhelmed. “I told one person at the charity and they started crying, so that gives you some idea of how important this money will be to them. Neuroblastoma is such a cruel disease, and this money will literally save lives. It’s a charity and disease that no one has really heard of so with the viewing figures being what they are it’s going to be so good for the charity.”

He said that his non-stop comedy was behind his win. “Humour was my secret weapon in the castle,” he declared. “I would often deflect scrutiny and make a gag about something which would then throw everyone off the scent. My sense of humour was probably more useful to me than a shield.”

And Alan admitted that he couldn’t believe he got away with two murders in plain sight – first Paloma Faith and then Celia Imrie. “Spouting Shakespeare at the dinner party was so not me that I thought it would’ve been a red flag to the faithful – but at breakfast no one mentioned it,” he laughed. Alan said he’d also loved the reaction of the audience since the show began last month. “The memes have been so funny, I’ve loved them all. Someone did a song which included all my Traitors quotes – it’s quite catchy actually and I think it should be entered for Eurovision.”

In terms of advice for future players, Alan confessed he had no idea what his game strategy had been. “Although I won, I don’t know if I was a really good Traitor or if the Faithfuls were just useless.”

Singer and TikTok star Cat, 25, claimed her downfall came about because she was the last woman standing – and the others believed there would be a female among the traitors. “In hindsight, I think if we didn’t banish Kate (Garraway) before, I probably would have had a chance as there would have been two women left,” she told BBC Breakfast.

Alan spent eight years interviewing A-Listers like Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Lindsay Lohan amongst a whole host of others on his Channel 4 show Chatty Man, which ended in 2016. At the time he said this was due to the difficulty of securing three guests an episode across a 30-week run, while competing with ITV’s Jonathan Ross and BBC1’s Graham Norton. He also said that Channel 4’s decision to shift it from Friday to Thursday had sounded the death knell.

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Claudia Winkleman, praised recently for her work on The Celebrity Traitors, was supposed to start filming The Piano at King’s Cross Station in London last weekend

The Christmas special of The Piano has reportedly had to be canned because of the stabbing attack on a London-bound train last weekend.

Filming for the festive episode was supposed to start this week at London King’s Cross Station, where the ill-fated service was due to terminate on Saturday night. Claudia Winkleman and her crew had to halt their plans, though, as heightened security created problems for access in the station.

And it was decided to abandon the one-off, hour-long Christmas special this year, it is understood. The team, it is believed, behind The Piano felt it was inappropriate to make the cosy show in the neighbouring St Pancras Station while the horrors affected passengers on the train from Peterborough to the capital.

Claudia, who also presents The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors, was due to be joined by The Piano mentors Jon Baptiste and Mika on the train concourses, which are regularly filled with amateurs tinkling on the ivories.

READ MORE: Celebrity Traitors viewers can buy cloak or branded pyjamas from one high street storeREAD MORE: Celebrity Traitors star Alan Carr hits back at claim he’s ‘not being real’ on show

The Piano has enjoyed three seasons since it started in February 2023. Last year, the festive special aired on Christmas Day itself on Channel 4, but it was unclear when 2025’s episode was due to air.

But, according to The Sun, a full series of The Piano, hosted by Claudia once more, will return in 2026 with a fourth series, which will start filming in the spring and air later in the year.

During last Christmas’ episode, Claudia and her team reunited with some of the stand-out players from series two, performing seasonal favourites including Walking in the Air, O Holy Night and Joni Mitchell’s River. Brad Kella, who won Series two, puts on a moving performance of his first single. Mika and Lang Lang performed a duet of a Beatles classic too.

And, during the third series in the spring, Claudia, 53, wept during performances at other locations, including Heathrow Airport. She had said: “The people who make the show make it beautifully. There are no lights. There is no tripod. They’re just in the station and they’re documentary makers at heart. It’s not like any other TV show. The people who make it are the stars.”

More than 12 million people typically tuned in for The Celebrity Traitors each episode this year, a show also hosted by mother-of-three Claudia. Audiences for the first four episodes of the tense BBC One game show averaged 12.6 million, according to official seven-day consolidated figures published by the research body Barb.

The ultimate game of deception and trust draws to a close tonight on BBC One.

TV fans have been won over by the celebrity version of The Traitors on the BBC – and now it is being suggested that a Gavin and Stacey star could lead the cast of a second season

A Gavin and Stacey icon is being lined up to take part in a second season of The Celebrity Traitors. Welsh actress Ruth Jones is known to millions as Nessa Jenkins on the hit BBC comedy.

Now BBC bosses are keen to bring the star back to screens as herself as one of the stars of an as yet not confirmed second season of The Celebrity Traitors. TV fans have been won over by the glamorous star packed version of the devious game show that is fronted by Claudia Winkleman.

Celebs including Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry and Celia Imrie have battled to uncover Traitors and avoid banishing Faithfuls during the first season of the show – which is set to reach a conclusion this week. And already fans are looking ahead to who could be in the cast of a second season.

READ MORE: Alan Carr flees UK before Celebrity Traitors final as he fears being ‘most hated man’READ MORE: Tess Daly supported by lookalike daughter as ‘real reason’ for Strictly exit revealed

A source told The Sun: “The celebrity ­version of The Traitors has been a phenomenal success for the BBC and they’re already approaching stars for the next run. Ruth is one of the names in the frame and she’s been approached about taking part.

“Given the stellar names they secured for series one, the next instalment has to be just as impressive. Ruth would be an incredible addition to the cast if she can fit it into her schedule.”

However, the TV star is said to have one condition on taking part. The source claimed: “Ruth would only consider taking part on the proviso she would be a Faithful.”

The Mirror has contacted representatives of The Traitors and Ruth Jones for comment. Meanwhile, the BBC said they had “No comment” over the speculation.

The Celebrity Traitors has shone fresh light on long-serving stars of the small screen – with reports suggesting Alan Carr could front a new talk show after seeing his popularity surge while taking part in the show. He has thrilled audiences with his treasonous behaviour as one of the traitors.

While rugby star Joe Marler could end up on screens more after impressing audiences – and seemingly figuring out that Alan and Cat Burns are the two traitors on the show.

According to the Mail, BBC bosses have been eyeing him up throughout the series and it reportedly looks as though the broadcaster’s new controller Kate Phillips is keen on him too.

A TV insider told the publication: “The BBC is constantly looking for new talent and the second he stopped playing rugby, there were eyes on him. Bosses knew that getting him on Traitors would be a very good shop window for him and they could test whether or not the viewers would like him.

“As soon as they saw it, they knew he would be someone the British public would adore and they seem to be right.”

They added: “At the same time, he himself is ready for a new career after retiring from rugby. He has long wanted to present from a BBC sofa and The One Show is one of his favourite programmes. To anchor that would be his dream.”

Former Celebrity Traitors contestant Kate Garraway has tipped Alan Carr to win the BBC show. While on Romesh Ranganathan’s BBC Radio 2 show, she said the celebrities asked two questions which they all knew to be true.

And then they were asked if they were a traitor or not. But Alan appeared to look nervous even when answering the question they all knew to be true.

She explained: “The flaw in the plan was everybody slightly flickered, their eyes changed so when you say ‘are you a mother of five’ they just go yes because they’re relaxed about that. But on every single one Alan looked guilty, even on the ones that were true. So therefore I think his thing is that he looks guilty and the more he mucks up and the more he sweats and the more he can’t get out loud I’m a Faithful, then the more it plays in to ‘Alan’s just being Alan’. And I think that’s going to be the genius.”

Earlier in the Celebrity Traitors special, she claimed he could easily win the show. She said: “I think he’s going to win. I don’t know. I’m going to say it now.”

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