Copyright manchestereveningnews
Strictly Come Dancing's Kevin Clifton broke his silence on hosting rumours for the BBC show as he praised Stacey Dooley. The pair met when Stacey was cast in the 2018 series of Strictly , where she and Kevin won the coveted Glitterball trophy after performing a foxtrot, show dance, and paso doble. In 2023 Stacey gave birth to their shared daughter Minnie after announcing her pregnancy in August 2022. Last week, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman shocked their co-stars and fans by confirming their plans to leave Strictly Come Dancing. 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. They announced the news on social media in a joint statement, alongside a video in which they discussed their decision. Tess and Claudia shared: "We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream,” they said. "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." On Monday (October 27), Kevin Clifton appeared on Good Morning Britain as host Ed Balls said the couple would be a "dream team", noting the rumours that Stacey Dooley is one of the favourites to take on the hosting role. Kevin replied: "I don’t know about that. Stacey would be amazing. We’ve had no conversations about anything like that." Discussing the departure of Tess and Claudia, Kevin added: "It’s the end of an era for them, and start of the Ed and Charlotte era, isn’t it?" Asked if he misses the show, he said: "Not necessarily the workload, but I still love it. "Me and Stacey are on the other side of it now, where we sit down like everyone else and watch it as fans. We’re obsessed with Strictly, we’ve become like super fans."
