Claudia is naturally witty, but also has empathy. You only have to see her on the Great British Sewing Bee to see her encouraging, joking and sympathising with the contestants as appropriate to see just how good she is at interacting with people unscripted.

Claudia is a bit bonkers, is individual and naturally funny ( although not all her attempts at humour come off as intended)

That puts her miles ahead of Tess, who is by comparison a clothes horse who can read an autocue.

Yeah cos she's not a talent vacuum at all.... oh wait....

Winklewoman is very funny and accomplished.

She has verbal wit.
But her costume etc gags make me want to look the other way in embarrassment.

Love Claudia's energy and the way she can do the "rehearsed silly skits" but also be completely natural and spontaneous, which is crucial for a live show

Claudia is excellent and often says what viewers are thinking. She has a sharpness that Tess does not have.

Although she seems nice enough in herself, I do find Claudia rather silly - childish, even - and frequently wonder what she's doing on this show.

Presenters obviously need to diversify to survive, but I think she's far better placed as the anchor on the film review show, where silliness isn't part of the remit!

Although it's got absolutely nothing to do with her ability as a presenter, I do just wish she'd go easy on the black stuff round her eyes .. she really doesn't need it.

I found the chocolate gag this week and the marbles gag last week unfunny and childish - but that is down to the producers, not Claudia.

Left to her own devices Claudia is witty and fun to watch.

If anybody makes me cringe it's Tess. She reads off the prompter and that's as far as it goes. At least Claudia injects a bit of her personality and life into what she reads. Tess reads and then does a fake laugh and then I'm sitting thinking "..OH is this when I'm meant to fake laugh too?" Claudia is naturally quite funny and goofy. I also wish it was Claudia and Zoe presenting the main show. Tess is so stale and unnatural with her delivery. It's painful to watch sometimes

To me Claudia & her humour is like Marmite, you love it or hate it!! Sadly I come down firmly in the second camp!!

Surely that makes you a good person to survey?

If everyone everywhere always liked the same thing (like you and all your friends) there would never be any need for surveys. The surveyor would only need to think "what do I think?" And then enter that result with 100% after it.

Pie charts would be rather boring too.


PS - personally I can't get enough of Claudia. The fact that she is best friends with Victoria Coren Mitchell just elevates my love for her. 😀

Have you ever seen her on Only Connect ? She's truly awful, coming across as supercilious and know-all; not a person I'd ever want at my dinner table!

I agree. Claudia is great.

Yes I have, and several other tv and radio shows (well heard her on those obviously). I wasn't just plucking her name out of thin air. 😀

I find Victoria equally wonderful.

Clearly we appreciate very different types of women. Fair enough. 😄

Since Victoria's dinner table could possibly include Claudia, David Mitchell, Alexander Armstrong and Giles Coren I would much prefer to visit her table rather than invite her to mine.

I think that's my dream dinner party too.

This post is bang on! Tess never relaxes presenting the show, she is far too self aware, and never deviates from her over rehearsed conversations with each contestant following their dance. And she's in constant panto Tess mode. I find myself getting increasingly irritated by her comments and belief she is talking on behalf of the viewers and studio audience.

I can imagine sharing a bottle of wine with Claude, having a laugh & putting the world to rights. She can be mildly OTT, but she brings a freshness an otherwise staid show.

Just different personalities and also different roles to play in the programme.

Do you criticise Len because he has never appeared with his hair or makeup messed up? Does that mean he is a diva. Same for Darcey ...

i think you're missing the point, with respect. This thread is about Claude, and whether folk agree with the OP about her. Ricardo, and I, like her, and like many other posters in this thread, compared her style with Tess, as presentersof the show. There are numerous other threads about the Judges, and any issues about them are contained there.

But to answer your question, I do think the judges and Claude are far more spontaneous than Tess has been or ever will be. Appearance references were to demonstrate a point, not prove the issue.

I'm not being argumentative, btw

Fine but Tess has a role which, rather like Len, needs an element of authority to it which could be lost if she messed about too much.

It's the classic partnership where one is more serious than they other.