Strictly hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have MBEs but it was Strictly last minute for one of them
Claudia Winkleman among stars in King’s Birthday Honours list
TV presenter Tess Daly burst into tears when she opened the letter telling her she was to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting.
The 56-year-old has been recognised, with her Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman also becoming an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours.
But it could have all gone horribly wrong for Tess as the letter almost didn’t get to her in time to accept. Tess said: “This genuinely came as the greatest surprise of my life. I don’t think I’ve come back down to earth yet, I didn’t see it coming, and it almost didn’t happen, because the letter went to the wrong address.
“And thank goodness, someone very kind found me. And so by the time I got it, I only had, I think it was two or three days left to accept it. There’s a deadline of acceptance. I can’t imagine not ever wanting to accept such a wonderful award. But of course I did.
“But yes, it was cutting it fine, because it went to the wrong address first of all, but it ended well.”
She added: “I cried when I opened the letter, because I just I couldn’t believe it. I genuinely couldn’t, and the first thing I wanted to do was tell my dad, because I lost my dad many years ago, and I know how proud my dad would have been, and I would love to have shared that news with him more than anything.
“He would been incredibly proud in a very Northern, humble fashion. Because you’re under strict instructions, of course, not to share the news before it’s made public. But I must admit, I did tell immediate members of my family and swore them to secrecy.”
Daly, who has co-presented the BBC One dancing competition since 2004, first appeared on screens in 1999 when she hosted The Big Breakfast’s Find Me A Model competition on Channel 4.
Daly, a model herself, has taken to the catwalk for the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Red Or Dead, and even appeared in music videos for English pop rock band Duran Duran.
In 2002 she presented coverage of the stars arriving and celebrating backstage at the National Television Awards (NTAs) for ITV2 and in 2003 she replaced Ulrika Jonsson as presenter of ITV makeover show Home On Their Own.
A year later she was hired as co-host of Channel 5’s Back To Reality, with Richard Bacon, which saw 12 reality TV stars live together in a west London mansion.
She reached new levels of fame as co-host of Strictly Come Dancing, which she presented alongside the late Sir Bruce Forsyth up until 2014, three years before his death at the age of 89.
Since then Daly has co-hosted the Saturday show with Traitors presenter Winkleman, and the pair helmed coverage of its 20th anniversary series late last year.
In 2024 they picked up the entertainment programme gong at the Bafta TV Awards. On her MBE she said: “It feels like the most wonderful honour, because when you work as a broadcaster, you’re part of people’s viewing habits.
“It feels like a genuine privilege for people to invite you into their living room. For example, being part of Strictly and part of people’s Saturday nights for the past 20 years is something that you don’t ever take that for granted, and it’s just something that I’ve genuinely enjoyed being a part of all these years.
“And as a career, it’s been something really special to share people’s lives in that way it feels like a wonderful honour.
“Broadcasting is without a doubt a collective effort. I’ve been really fortunate to work with some of the very best production teams that there are in the business. And so my biggest thanks is to them, because you’re only as good as your team.”
Daly appeared alongside Sir Terry Wogan when they co-hosted coverage of annual charity appeal show BBC Children In Need, which she has presented numerous times.
Across her career she has interviewed stars including Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, rock band No Doubt and US musician Lenny Kravitz.
She fronted a BBC Two documentary in 2011 titled TV Greats: Our Favourites From The North where she took a look at Manchester’s broadcasting past as BBC North bid farewell to its studios in the city to move to Salford.
Daly, along with her husband Vernon Kay, whom she married in 2003, have been patrons for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity since 2007.
In March 2023 the presenter released a food and fitness guide featuring recipes and wellness tips, titled 4 Steps: To A Happier, Healthier You.
She said of Strictly: “I love that for the last 20 years our only agenda has been joy. It’s been just feel-good entertainment, and being a part of that has felt like a gift.”
Daly added: “I’ve got so many wonderful memories from working with Sir Bruce Forsyth back in the beginning, 2004, to working with Claudia and being the first all-female presenting duo on Primetime Telly, and that meant a lot as a mother of girls, to sort of pave the way, that felt quite important at the time, because it hadn’t been done before.
“So to be a part of that and to stand by Claude, Claudia is absolutely brilliant fun, and to do that with her at that time felt quite groundbreaking.”
Strictly co-host Claudia said she was “incredibly grateful” to receive the honour, adding: “I will buy a hat and am taking my mum. I am ridiculously lucky and will celebrate with Tess by doing a paso doble.” The pair are close friends as well as being co-hosts now of Strictly for a decade.
