Tess did the heavy lifting on Strictly. But I had to be strict on Traitors...I was worried

THEY may have left Strictly Come Dancing, but they will still be watching the new series together in their pyjamas from the comfort of the sofa.

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly decided to bow out from presenting the hit BBC show last year because they worried about becoming complacent in their roles.

But it doesn't mean that they don't still love it.

And Claudia, who now hosts The Traitors and her own chat show, reveals the pair have a special celebration in store when they tune in to this year's series.

She reveals: "Tess and I have already planned - we are having jacket potatoes and I am having the salmon. She is coming to ours, her and Vern (husband Vernon Kay). I am not joking.

"I am going to set her up with a nightie and we are going to watch and support and love it." No one ever doubted the pair's fondness for the ballroom series.

But speaking in depth about their decision to leave, Claudia says she started to see signs that they needed to follow through with their pact to quit at the same time.

"You want to leave on a high," says Claudia. "And you want to leave when you are loving it. We were tiny cogs in this huge sparkly, glittery thing.

"We were tiny as we had props guys holding Eiffel Towers, the amazing band, the dancers, the costume and hair and make-up and everything else and the lighting."

Conga

Recalling one of her favourite moments on the show, she says: "Years earlier they said Gloria Estefan was playing in Blackpool and we were like 'I cant believe it'. I phoned my husband and said 'I have to practise the conga"." By the end of their run though, meeting star names and learning dances became familiar.

Claudia explains: "We thought it was time to leave.

Not that I was not excited at the end, but both of us were a bit like 'Oh yeah...cool. All right, so then I do that (routine)'.