Same here, I thought without him she might stop hamming it up. Wrong.

Too me it looked as if she was trying to hard. Maybe she should try some of Tommy Chong's medicine to mellow a bit .

All in all I thought she did a good job. She will grow into it eventually.

I feel the same. I had assumed Claudia was going to be in Bruce's shoes as she can be quick and is a very warm personality. At least with her on the floor there is a chance that there would be some humourous interraction with the judges which is what the show needs. I am really disappointed if we are stuck with Tess, whose only ability is to read an autocue with a rictus grin.

They either need to sack Tess or at least swap her with Claudia. She's an atrocious presenter.

Totally agree with the OP. She was way over the top, especially with the gavel grabbing - oh dear. Her problem is she tries to be funny but she's not a natural. She should stick to what she does best . . . I don't know what that is as such, but I'm sure something will come up . . . ?

You must have had some really peculiar sandwiches, but they say you are what you eat.....

It was cringe worthy. I have always found her false and she was just the same last night.

She especially grates on the results show when she goes on about how sad it is to see whoever it is go - she could not give a toss and it shows.

Claudia at least is genuine.

I agree with you. I was waiting for all the Tess haters to start whereas Saint Claudia
can do not wrong. Tess has never annoyed me she does the job OK. The BBC
are obviously very pleased with her as they have never replaced her.

I can't understand why people are turning on Tess. It's not as if her style of presenting is a surprise. She's been doing the Sunday night show and standing in for Bruce for quite some time now. She wouldn't have been my first choice (and I know I'm in the minority because I liked Brucie) but, now the majority have got what they wanted they should at least give the woman a chance.

She's shouting too much and trying too hard. She needs to calm down. Claudia, on the other hand is a complete joy. She's so natural and funny. I love her quips and her batty humour.

Still trying to make her mark and remove the aftertaste of Fforsyth.

She'll gain in confidence and drop some of those over the top gestures.

Give her a chance. Hosting a live show on your own at peak time is stressful enough and she is still living in the shadow of the over-powering, egotistical old fool.

She was tolerable as the side kick, but she hasn't got the prescence for the main job. No charisma or command, like a rabbit in the headlights.

She's always been a total waste of space as a presenter - awkward, no empathy, total lack of charm. Why would she start being any good now? She's a cringe-making nightmare.

Neutral.

That's the word, neutral.

The show lacked sparkle or interest outside the dancing, and Tess was trying way too hard to the point where she annoyed me more than Bruce could ever have done.

They had to finish on time on Friday so she might have been getting instructions to stop the judges waffling on too long.

Her shouting was even worse last night. And those 'cute' looks into the camera make me want to vomit.

She was definitely over excited, or just trying too hard.
The "pantomime atmosphere" of calling out, "are we ready for some dancing ?" and "well we enjoyed it, didn't we ?" to get a crowd reaction was pathetic, as was her constant gurning to the camera.

She should just stick to straight presenting and let Claudia do the humour.

It's nothing to do with the BBC being pleased with her. Tony Hall (BBC Director General) recently said the BBC was deliberately putting more women in presenting roles. So good or bad, wrong or right for the job, expect a lot more "Claudias" on the BBC, and certainly don't expect either Tess or Claudia to be replaced if Strictly and its ratings go down the pan. The BBC is far too obsessed with agendas and it's self imposed box ticking. Just watch News 24 regularly if you want to see an almost complete absence of male presenters.

Wasn't it all shot on the same evening but with wardrobe and makeup changes for the shouting robot and her sidekick to make it look otherwise?

That I don't know but it would make sense from a logistical point of view.

Perhaps she will calm down a bit next week. I certainly hope so.

How Tess ever got a job as a presenter I can't imagine, she is even worse now without BF, I couldn't stand him an she is nearly as bad. I love Claudia, she is witty bright and not in love with herself like Tess.

I thought she did okay but just ok. She needs to relax a bit more.

And, to be honest, so does Claudia. She was always great upstairs but I felt she was a bit nervous too. She kept talking over people.

I think towards the end Tess' nerves got too much for her when she practically told Craig to shut up. She was right in what she said but not the way she said it. She just needs to learn to calm down.

Couldn't agree more. the whole atmosphere, starting with the opening dances, and the judges sending themselves up, lighter, jollier and - I think Tess herself was sending up the jokes with pulling all those faces! General conclusion: Better without Bruce!

Tess probably will settle into it - probably over-rehearsed and over-directed by the floor directors. When they see the show themselves Tess and Claudia will work it out and learn to ignore the voices in their "earwigs"

I thought it was only Bruce who couldn't read the autocue but when she read out that joke as Mark having 'no mates' instead of 'no moves' it was plain embarrassing.
Bring back Bruce!