“‘HE’S BACK… WHERE HE BELONGS’ — Strictly Icon Sir Bruce Forsyth to Make Emotional ‘Return’ to the Ballroom as Part of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s Tearful BBC Farewell Send-Off
Strictly Come Dancing icon Sir Bruce Forsyth will return to the BBC show as part of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s farewell, after nearly two decades hosting the show. The former TV star, who died in 2017 at the age of 89, will be seen via archive footage found by researchers, for the “best bits” segment of the show, in an emotional tribute to the duo.
Tess started presenting the BBC show alongside Bruce back in 2004 until his retirement in 2013. And the following year, Claudia took over his position. TV insiders have revealed that Tess, 56, and Claudia are very aware of not taking away from the spotlight of the winner.
At the end of Saturday’s dress rehearsal, Tess was gifted a bunch of flowers and balloons by her co-host and production to celebrate presenting her 500th show. On Tuesday next week, Tess will be on the receiving end of questions during her appearance on The One Show, as she discusses her exit.
A source told The Sun: “It wouldn’t be a proper send-off for the pair without a few words from Strictly icon Bruce. Researchers have found some classic archive footage showing Tess and Bruce in action in the early days of the show and Bruce gushing about her behind the scenes. He was such a huge part of Tess’ journey, it feels important to use his tribute.”
Bosses felt that Bruce was such a major influence on Tess’ Strictly journey that they felt it was fitting to include him in the tribute. The presenting duo recently released a joint statement confirming their exit from Strictly Come Dancing.
It read: “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.”
The statement added: “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.”
As yet a confirmation of the pair’s replacement has not been revealed but earlier today, it was reported that three names have been shortlisted. While ten names have been put forward, three names appear to be firm favourites by BBC bosses.
The unconfirmed names are The Chase host Bradley Walsh, The One Show Alex Jones and Chattyman star Alan Carr. A source told The Sun: “Replacing Claudia and Tess is a mammoth task but the BBC have whittled down the talent to 10 people. “
“As well as Bradley, Alex and Alan, Rylan Clark, Rob Rinder, Zoe Ball, and Holly Willoughby will be at the chemistry day. Amanda Holden, Alison Hammond, and Angela Scanlon have made the cut too,” the source went on to say. There will be a chemistry testing screening to find out who has the best connection with each other.
While comedian Alan is one of the favourites, this could clash with his upcoming tour in 2027. On her last day as host during the show’s Christmas special, Tess reportedly broke down in tears as she was greeted by an emotional send off.
Ahead of the hugely anticipated semi-final, a tarot card reader reportedly predicted that one of the hopefuls had emotionally reached the end of their journey, as they had suddenly started to feel “the exhaustion of the long glamorous journey.”
Celebrities who took part in this years semi-final included Balvinder Sopal, George Clarke, Amber Davies and Karen Carney. This comes after Lewis Cope’s exit from the BBC show despite being favoured to head straight to the final. Since the series started, it has been plagued by a number of departures through injuries.
The first celebrity to exit the show due to a fractured ankle was Dani Dyer and she was replaced by Amber Davies, as it was so early into the series. Neighbours star Stefan Dennis and La Voix were also forced to bow out of the competition.
