Strictly Come Dancing boss Sarah James had detailed huge changes to the BBC show two seasons ago as she spoke about keeping the show “fresh and and updated”. It has emerged that her possible departure may be the real reason behind the shock exit of Tess Daly, 56, and Claudia Winkleman, 53, which they announced in a joint statement on Thursday October 20. The pair are said to have been motivated by rumours show she is planning to leave at the end of this season.

Although she has not announced if she will remain with the show in 2026, it is reported she did not want to exit before the show was back on an even keel following a series of scandals. Sarah was promoted to executive producer in 2019 after five years working on the show. In a 2022 interview a few weeks before that season’s final, she had outlined her plans for the show indicating that changes would be afoot in future series.

Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly have announced they are leaving Strictly come Dancing (Image: BBC)

While she didn’t address her own future plans or those of Claudia and Tess she admitted they were planning “creative changes” to the programme.

“Obviously it’s a really popular show and has lots of viewers, so you want it to carry on in the same vein, but also stay fresh and updated. So a really important thing for me was to make sure it felt creatively quite youthful but without alienating some of our older viewers.

“It’s about making sure that what people love about the show is still on track, but being brave enough to make some creative changes as well,” she said in an interview with Huff Post.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman with Strictly Come Dancing boss Sarah James (Image: Getty)

This included keeping the dancers on their toes quite literally. Claiming there was “tension” amongst the pros when she joined she said: “some people…weren’t that grateful for the show.”

While she intimated that issue had now been resolved, she also admitted they are always on the lookout for new dancers. She said she and the series editor were constantly meeting with people “so that we know if anybody goes, or anything happens, we’ve got a pool of people who we’ve already been speaking to”.

BBC bosses were said to have been blindsided by Tess and Claudia’s departure annoucement after they released a joint statement confirming the news on Instagram.

They will leave the show following this year’s final on December 20 but will last appear on screens on Christmas Day in the festive special