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Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman's Strictly exit move 'extremely telling' as 'tension and fear' spotted
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman shocked their co-stars and fans by confirming their plans to leave Strictly Come Dancing this week. Tess has fronted the BBC programme since its conception n 2004, first alongside the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth and from 2014 with Claudia, who first hosted the show's spin-off series, It Takes Two. But after 11 years presenting the show together, the co-hosts confirmed on Thursday (October 23) in a joint statement that they will both leave the hit dance show at the end of the current series. Days after their announcement and Tess and Claudia returned to TV screens on Saturday night (October 25) as the 2025 run of the competition continued. Before kicking off Icon Week, the pair acknowledged the news with Claudia thanking viewers for their "beautiful messages" following her and Tess' news. Tess said: "Just before we get started, Claudia and I announced this this week that this will be our final series of Strictly Come Dancing Claudia added: “We want to thank you for your beautiful messages, we've got another eight weeks on this incredible show and a Strictly champion to crown." Concluding the opening, Tess added: "We cannot wait to spend the rest of the series with you, with our amazing couples and of course with these four. Please welcome... the judges," before the show continued as normal. The pair’s last appearance together will be its festive special, airing on Christmas Day this year. However, with that show being pre-recorded, their last live show will be the final of the 2025 series, set to air on December 20. Following their address to viewers, body language expert Darren Stanton has revealed how the hosts were really feeling, explaining that while Claudia appeared the more confident of the two, she still displayed signs of nerves. Tess, meanwhile, is said to have showed microexpressions of fear and sadness, suggesting the duo may not be revealing the ‘full picture’ behind their exit. Speaking on behalf of Betfair Casino, he added that despite their understandable nerves, the pair were ‘standing united together’, proving they share a ‘strong rapport’ both on and off camera. "Tess and Claudia’s announcing their departure on last night’s live show was extremely telling," Darren said: "If you look at Tess’s body language, she doesn’t know what to do with her hands, which is unusual for her. She’s wringing her hands together - that’s a clear distress signal to me. "She’s playing with her fingers, then interlocking her hands and bringing them apart. Her internal emotions seemed a little all over the place due to nerves. She felt fearful during their opening monologue, which is understandable given it’s the first time she’s addressing a live audience. "Facially, I also saw a couple of microexpressions coming from Tess, which are flashes of true emotion. They usually last for a fifth of a second, and there was a little bit of sadness in Tess’s face." He went on: "Claudia was definitely the more confident out of the two. She didn’t give a great deal away, other than the positioning of her hands. The hands are usually a tell-tale sign of how someone is feeling, and with Claudia, there was a brief moment where she was holding them together in front of her. It was quite quick, but what is interesting is that Claudia never makes this type of signal with her fingers - it’s a nervousness gesture when we hold our hands together like that. "It’s what we call a pacifying gesture in psychology. It’s basically an outward leakage signal that proves our inner emotions are not that stable, and I definitely think it’s nerves she’s feeling here. This didn’t last long, though, and she soon went back to reverting to her usual open-palmed gestures - she wants to be open with viewers at home. "With that being said, there’s definitely a backstory to their exit, and the nerves in their body language suggests they’re not revealing the full picture." However, Darren continued: "What I can say is that the pair are very much united together. They were facing each other during the speech, which means they are on the same page together. They are in deep rapport - there’s definitely no issues between Claudia and Tess. "Both of their bodies were facing inwards towards each other, denoting a deep friendship and strong connection. I think they’re very good friends away from set and definitely standing united during their time." Confirming their exit, Tess and Claudia said in their joint statement: "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 we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to 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."
