Claudia Winkleman may miss the rest of Strictly Come Dancing 2014, it’s been claimed.



Claudia has stepped down from the past two shows following a tragic Halloween accident last month that resulted in her daughter Matilda being rushed to hospital with severe burns.

In a statement released earlier this month, Claudia and husband Kris Thykier said: “Our daughter was involved in an accident on Friday night while celebrating Halloween.

“She is having the best care possible and we are hopeful of a full recovery.”

It Takes Two host Zoe Ball has stepped in for Claudia alongside Tess Daly for the past two weekends and yesterday the BBC confirmed she would also be fronting this weekend’s Blackpool special.

It had been hoped that Claudia would be back, but now it’s been reported that she may not return for the rest of the series.



“Getting the gig on Strictly was a dream for Claudia, so it’s cruel that she has had to pull out when things were all going so well,” a source told The Sun newspaper today. “But she is not going to leave Matilda’s side until she is sure she is ready.”

The insider explained: “Matilda is taking great strides in her recovery, but a long way off being completely better and Claudia just doesn’t think it would be appropriate to be on stage being upbeat while her daughter is unwell.

“At this stage she is refusing to put a time on when she’ll be back. She is going to give it as long as it takes and the BBC is being incredibly understanding.”

It leaves Zoe with a rather hectic schedule, continuing to host the show’s BBC Two spin-off every weekday evening as well as the Saturday and Sunday main shows.

Strictly Come Dancing continues next weekend as the show heads to Blackpool for plenty of sea, sand and sequins, starting Saturday, 15th November at 7.00pm, with the results show on Sunday 16th November at 7.15pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.


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It would be a sensible thing to do IMO. Even if her daughter is doing well physically, it will be better if she stays with her and not go away for a whole day.

Poor child - it doesn't sound good at all.

I think she should just forget about the rest of the series and be with her family, it would be hard to be her usual jolly self I think.

I'm glad her daughter is doing well, but I'd completely understand if she took the rest of the series off. Better that than faking happy whilst millions of people analyse her to see how she's really doing.

I agree. Plus, people will make nasty comments if she does return to Strictly soon.

They are likely to make nasty comments anyway. I hope the DS crew are above all that.

Best wishes to Claudia and her family. There are more important things than Strictly at a time like this!

I hate to say this but I am not a fan of Claudia anyway. I didn't care for her on the Sunday shows. I don't like her childish manner and I was shocked to see that she is 42. I thought she was younger than that!
I prefer Zoe Ball to co host with Tess Daly. They make a good team.

"It leaves Zoe with a rather hectic schedule, continuing to host the show’s BBC Two spin-off every weekday evening as well as the Saturday and Sunday main shows."

Hardly. The Sunday show is a recording from Saturday.

I know they have to rehearse for ITT but it's hardly a 12 hour day. And she will be paid well for the main programme.

My heart goes out to Claudia. She may not be everyone's favourite, but she had everything going for her with this new job, and now her poor daughter has been involved in such a horrid accident and I can just imagine where her mind is at now. I know I wouldn't be ready to spend hours away, so I think she should take her time coming back, because the media will be quick to over analyse her if she does come back this weekend.

I guess the issue would be playing the usual Claudia role rather than leaving her daughter per se. I'm sure Dad could so a few shifts if required!

I'm not downplaying the seriousness of the incident, but plenty of folk soldier on with the "day job" when dealing with serious family/child incidents, and I'm sure Claudia could if she absolutely had to. In all honesty, it probably won't do either Claudia or her daughter many favours if she was by her bedside all day and every day until she's better in any case.

Anyway, here's to speedy and complete recovery. It sounds awful; the kind of accident that could afflict anyone with young kids out in fancy dress. There but for the grace of God...

We ALL hope for a full and speedy recovery for her child.

I will say if she is not going to return this season someone is going to have to help out on ITT, you cannot expect Zoe to do the five nights AND the Saturday schedule for the next seven or eight weeks

I can't imagine Zoe objecting with being a friend of Claudia and having children of her own. Many of of use have had to work extra shifts / hours to cover for work colleagues when something unfortunate has happened.

By the way, there does not seem to be anything further on any authoritative sources. The one in the Original Post sounds like a gossip site and quite possibly using Digital Spy as a source. The only definitive version will on the BBC website and they seem to be staying silent since their statement on the 4th November.

i Hope the little girl makes a quick recovery. Must be awful for the whole family; Claudia is doing what any parent would do if they could. although some have to go to the day job to make ends meet on thier minimum wage I think that Claudia has probably got enough savings to see her though for a couple of weeks.

As for saying Zoe is working 7 days a week, people need to check again. We all know that the Sunday show is recorded but so are some of the ITT shows. Monday is live but Tuesday is recorded (after Monday is off air). I'm not certain which other days are recorded but I think that Thurday is recorded on Weds. Which means at the most Zoe is working Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

But Claudia and her husband have 2 - I think - other children, so it's not only a case of being with Matlida it's also making sure the others, who must be scared and shocked as well, have the time with their parents and a modicum of stability.

I'm just pleased that by being so apparently supportive, the. BBC have let at least one worry be put on the back burner.

At a time like this some thing are best left unsaid dont you think ?

I agree that there are many aspects to having an ill child, but I don't think it's strictly necessary to give up work to keep all the plates spinning. Plenty of folk have no choice as they are not employed by such a generous organisation as the BBC. (But that's probably a subject for the Telegraph!)

Why not?
It's not as if she is busy the rest of the year

Besides, I'm sure that she and Norm could do with the extra money

I don't know what the BBC are like now but they always were a good employer, a full time employee would quite likely be given compassionate leave but she will be freelance so other arrangements will be made.

Unlike you, apparently, I don't know the extent of her daughter's burns and hence how serious her condition. Nor do I know the exact circumstances of her accident. Were Claudia's two other children present at the time? If they were (and trick or treating is often a family affair) they're going to be pretty traumatised too.

Having raised two children as a single parent whilst managing a hospital department I've got a fair amount of experience of organising a whole host of conflicting responsibilities, but I never reached the stage of viewing my children as spinning plates.

Generous or simply caring and compassionate?

Lordy - I'd have thought that was pretty obviously a figure of speech!

I'm almost impressed this has managed to turn into a bash Claudia thread.

Tricky one. Most employers want to do the right thing by their valued staff when some "shock" event happens. Sadly, most of them face commercial realities that the BBC doesn't have to face, and so simply can't give folk indefinite leave and thus appear harsh.

I think all of us could be generous, caring and compassionate if we were funded the way the BBC is!