Category Entertainment News

Claudia Winkleman left Strictly Come Dancing’s spin-off show It Takes Two for Zoe Ball, who is now one of the favorites to take her place.

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Former It Takes Two presenter Zoe Ball is the first to declare an interest in taking over the Strictly Come Dancing presenting gig now that Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they are stepping down.

The TV and radio host made a point of sharing her interest in re-stocking Tess and Claudia’s sparkly shoes on her podcast. It would be “amazing” for her to return to the series, she told her co-host Jo Whiley. This comes shortly after Zoe, who succeeded Claudia when she left the spin-off Strictly, became one of the bookies’ favorites to get the presenting gig.

READ MORE: Holidaymakers can stay at Emmerdale star’s Fletchers’ Family Farm this DecemberREAD MORE: Strictly’s Kevin Clifton reveals if he and Stacey Dooley will replace Tess and Claudia

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“I think everyone would like to do that job,” she said, when Jo asked her if she wanted to do it. “It’s an amazing job, it’s the best Saturday night show. When I’m watching Ellie dancing with Vito or Lewis and Katya and Alex and JoJo…. they’re just so amazing. It still brings so much joy to people’s lives, that show. Whoever takes over will have the best gig in the world.”

The first major name to apply for the position is Zoe. Rylan Clark, who also hosted a series of It Takes Two, and Janette Manrara and Fleur East, the spinoff’s current presenters, are the other favorites to take over.

Zoe hosted It Takes Two in 2011 before taking over the hosting duties from Strictly Come Dancing in 2005. Claudia, who had been helming the series, made the transition to the main show at this time. When Claudia took a leave of absence in 2014, Zooe has also guest-produced Strictly Come Dancing. After ten years there, Zoe left the show in 2021.

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If Zoe were to take up the role, it would not just be a return to Strictly for her. It would also be a return to a primetime BBC slot. The presenter stepped down from her Radio 2 Breakfast Show after nearly six years in 2024.

When she first took over from Chris Evans in 2019, she was the first woman to present the show solo and became one of the BBC’s highest paid stars.

Everyone expected her to notice that she had withdrawn, and that she wanted to spend more time with her children and pursue new endeavors. However, in August, she claimed that she occasionally questioned her decision.

Jo added that her ideal presenting duo would be Zoe and Alan Carr, who is currently on The Celebrity Traitors. Alan’s popularity on the show has skyrocketed, and talks are already underway for him to have his own chat show following his Celeb Traitors stint.

Zoe praised Tess and Claudia for their support of the show elsewhere on the podcast. I just want to express my gratitude to the girls. Both of them are fantastic, and I believe that’s going to be a difficult act to follow.

Since 2004, Tess and Claudia have a relationship with Strictly. Many people were shocked when they learned their exit. The pair made the announcement in a joint statement on Instagram, which read, “We have loved working as a duo, and hosting Strictly has been a dream. We had planned to leave together before, but now it seems appropriate to do so.

Melissa Johns, an actress from Coronation Street and Grantchester, is getting ready to have her first child, but she says cruel trolls won’t stop her from feeling empowered by her appearance.

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Melissa Johns couldn’t be more excited to welcome her baby girl with husband Dan. The Coronation Street and Grantchester star is gearing up for the arrival of her first child – but being pregnant has changed her life in more ways than one.

The actress – who is best known to TV fans for playing Miss Scott in the ITV period drama – says being pregnant has made her feel empowered after growing up being told her body was “limited” after she was born without a right forearm or hand.

Melissa has documented her pregnancy in the way most parents do, with a gorgeous bump photoshoot. But for Melissa, these images represent more than just her own journey.

“It gives me such a powerful feeling. People have commented on, judged, and put their own limitations on it, she exclusively says, “I’ve spent a lot of my life with people telling me that my body is limited” and I’ve grown up not seeing people with body differences in bump photo shoots. I feel limitless when I grow and carry a baby. It’s wonderful to experience growing up feeling like I could never grow up and feel free to grow up.

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Melissa wants to change the narrative because she was raised being told that finding love and having children was impossible for her and that she “just needed to love herself.”

“I didn’t learn to hate myself from the beginning – it’s the world we live in. It’s a really tricky one to navigate. Me hating and loathing the body I have growing up, that wasn’t a product of me and how I felt about my body,” she says.

“It was the result of what I was told I should feel about my body,” she said. People commenting on my body now that I’m pregnant haven’t come as a shock to me because even when I was young, I was taught I was special and brave.

She continues, “I’ve grown up with it.” Although it’s strange when it’s not about my limb difference, it’s about my baby bump. That seems much more commonplace. It demonstrates how obsessed we are with our bodies, whether good or bad. We are obsessed with how we look, as a country, and having the bump has helped with that. It’s really nice to have something new to discuss.

Most mothers are questioned and probed about how to handle the arrival of their child. Melissa has had to deal with even more of these unsolicited questions because of her limb difference.

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“Sometimes, people will ask, “How will you manage?” What will the baby’s mother expect? How will you hold the baby simultaneously for a coffee with your friends? People do ask those questions, she says, and I’m making an effort to figure it out as well. It’s unfortunate that people are so intrigued by it because they don’t see it very much.

Melissa has been open about her fears for both herself and her daughter despite all the excitement surrounding the birth of the child.

I’ll be surrounded by a lot of kids when my little girl is a little older. Even at my age, I still have a lot of questions that every child asks. Children who ask lots of questions have always made me feel so afraid and intimidated. If I hear what other people think of my body, will my young girl think she needs to stand up for me? Does she think she needs to defend my side? Will she care to tell me something? Will she worry that she “hears things from people”? she informed us.

It won’t be long before Melissa is gracing our screens once more, but what does the birth of her baby mean for her acting career has made her question.

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“As actors get more anxious when they are pregnant, we rarely see them working.” Our careers worry us. Being a disabled actor, I had to work extra hard to show the industry that I can play any character, and it doesn’t have to be about disability. I’ve been worried about how having a baby will affect my career. What does it mean that I’m expecting a baby now that I’ve overcome those barriers?

Melissa is also biding her last farewells to a significant chapter of her life as she prepares to welcome her child. The actress has spent six years filming her final scenes as the ITV drama is about to come to an end.

“I’ve been filming for five months to nine months,” I said. The cast has been amazing, and they’ve all given me small presents for the baby, she says.

“I recently started watching that program. It saw me through Covid, it saw me through my ex-partner’s eight-year separation, and it saw me through the slumber of my house and the slumber of my friends in hotels. Dan and I met, got engaged, and we bought our first home. We were married during the final season, and we were planning to give birth the week before the baby was due. Many people are unable to live that way. How fortunate was Grantchester to me throughout all those ups and downs.

It’s obvious that Miss Scott will be accompanying Melissa as she welcomes her young daughter with husband Dan, despite the season’s end.

Melissa Johns, an actress from Coronation Street and Grantchester, is getting ready to have her first child, but she says cruel trolls won’t stop her from feeling empowered by her appearance.

View 6 Images

Melissa Johns couldn’t be more excited to welcome her baby girl with husband Dan. The Coronation Street and Grantchester star is gearing up for the arrival of her first child – but being pregnant has changed her life in more ways than one.

The actress – who is best known to TV fans for playing Miss Scott in the ITV period drama – says being pregnant has made her feel empowered after growing up being told her body was “limited” after she was born without a right forearm or hand.

Melissa has documented her pregnancy in the way most parents do, with a gorgeous bump photoshoot. But for Melissa, these images represent more than just her own journey.

“It gives me such a powerful feeling. People have commented on, judged, and put their own limitations on it, she exclusively says, “I’ve spent a lot of my life with people telling me that my body is limited” and I’ve grown up not seeing people with body differences in bump photo shoots. I feel limitless when I grow and carry a baby. It’s wonderful to experience growing up feeling like I could never grow up and feel free to grow up.

View 6 Images

View 6 Images

Melissa wants to change the narrative because she was raised being told that finding love and having children was impossible for her and that she “just needed to love herself.”

“I didn’t learn to hate myself from the beginning – it’s the world we live in. It’s a really tricky one to navigate. Me hating and loathing the body I have growing up, that wasn’t a product of me and how I felt about my body,” she says.

“It was the result of what I was told I should feel about my body,” she said. People commenting on my body now that I’m pregnant haven’t come as a shock to me because even when I was young, I was taught I was special and brave.

She continues, “I’ve grown up with it.” Although it’s strange when it’s not about my limb difference, it’s about my baby bump. That seems much more commonplace. It demonstrates how obsessed we are with our bodies, whether good or bad. We are obsessed with how we look, as a country, and having the bump has helped with that. It’s really nice to have something new to discuss.

Most mothers are questioned and probed about how to handle the arrival of their child. Melissa has had to deal with even more of these unsolicited questions because of her limb difference.

View 6 Images

“Sometimes, people will ask, “How will you manage?” What will the baby’s mother expect? How will you hold the baby simultaneously for a coffee with your friends? People do ask those questions, she says, and I’m making an effort to figure it out as well. It’s unfortunate that people are so intrigued by it because they don’t see it very much.

Melissa has been open about her fears for both herself and her daughter despite all the excitement surrounding the birth of the child.

I’ll be surrounded by a lot of kids when my little girl is a little older. Even at my age, I still have a lot of questions that every child asks. Children who ask lots of questions have always made me feel so afraid and intimidated. If I hear what other people think of my body, will my young girl think she needs to stand up for me? Does she think she needs to defend my side? Will she care to tell me something? Will she worry that she “hears things from people”? she informed us.

It won’t be long before Melissa is gracing our screens once more, but what does the birth of her baby mean for her acting career has made her question.

View 6 Images

View 6 Images

“As actors get more anxious when they are pregnant, we rarely see them working.” Our careers worry us. Being a disabled actor, I had to work extra hard to show the industry that I can play any character, and it doesn’t have to be about disability. I’ve been worried about how having a baby will affect my career. What does it mean that I’m expecting a baby now that I’ve overcome those barriers?

Melissa is also biding her last farewells to a significant chapter of her life as she prepares to welcome her child. The actress has spent six years filming her final scenes as the ITV drama is about to come to an end.

“I’ve been filming for five months to nine months,” I said. The cast has been amazing, and they’ve all given me small presents for the baby, she says.

“I recently started watching that program. It saw me through Covid, it saw me through my ex-partner’s eight-year separation, and it saw me through the slumber of my house and the slumber of my friends in hotels. Dan and I met, got engaged, and we bought our first home. We were married during the final season, and we were planning to give birth the week before the baby was due. Many people are unable to live that way. How fortunate was Grantchester to me throughout all those ups and downs.

It’s obvious that Miss Scott will be accompanying Melissa as she welcomes her young daughter with husband Dan, despite the season’s end.

One ex-boyfriend found it difficult to kip close to his former flame on at least one occasion because Charlotte Church, the star of the TV series Celebrity Traitors, couldn’t get a good night’s sleep while she was staying at the castle.

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Welsh songstress Charlotte Church will hope to get a better night’s sleep now her time in the Celebrity Traitors castle is over. Church, 39, was the fourth celeb to be murdered this season as her time on the hit BBC show came to an abrupt end.

The Traitors took out the Cardiff-born star after she had gained a reputation for being outspoken with her theories on who the killers may be. But Church reportedly did some kicking out of her own after telling an ex-boyfriend to sleep elsewhere at V Festival.

Church and her family were allegedly scheduled to spend time in the elite camping area of Virgin Media’s resort. And Gavin Henson, Church’s long-term partner at the time, was supposed to be one of those who played for former Wales.

According to legend, those plans allegedly failed as Henson and some pals were instructed to look elsewhere for lodging. And Henson was left torn as his Saturday plans sank.

The plan was for Gavin and Charlotte to let a few friends stay, according to a source close to the situation, but later on Saturday night she made the decision to move his male friends.

READ MORE: What Charlotte Church asked her ex after splitting up shows her true coloursREAD MORE: ‘Charlotte Church was so excited when I proposed to her but six weeks later we broke up’

According to some, the incident has to do with the 2009 V Festival, which included Henson and Church. The former couple, who have two children together, reportedly booked a Mongolian tent or yurt to enjoy a little more luxury in Chelmsford at the time of the report that year.

Even though they both didn’t get the same amount of enjoyment as they had hoped, figures from the time estimate that the lodging cost them £600 per night. Egyptian cotton linen and fluffy towels were provided with each tent.

Not to mention squabbling with other celebs at the same table. However, there was definitely something wrong with the glamping experience.

3 images to be seen

In spite of Henson’s leadership of The Fox pub in the Vale of Glamorgan, Church is still in the public eye after her appearance on Celebrity Traitors.

Before she received the chop, however, the former chart-topper had little chance to make much of an impact. After Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, and Cat Burns, the Traitor trio, made the decision to quit.

Henson was prevented from sleeping near his then-girlfriend by the V Festival scandal, as well. The grandmother of Church arranged for the rugby player to travel on at least one occasion with the singer.

3 images to be seen

In the middle of the 2000s, Henson was at his best when Ospreys and Wales were watching him, and Church would stay with her while he was away from the squad. Church Sr’s house was sacred, and under her roof, there wouldn’t be a marriage.

One ex-boyfriend found it difficult to kip close to his former flame on at least one occasion because Charlotte Church, the star of the TV series Celebrity Traitors, couldn’t get a good night’s sleep while she was staying at the castle.

3 images to be seen

Welsh songstress Charlotte Church will hope to get a better night’s sleep now her time in the Celebrity Traitors castle is over. Church, 39, was the fourth celeb to be murdered this season as her time on the hit BBC show came to an abrupt end.

The Traitors took out the Cardiff-born star after she had gained a reputation for being outspoken with her theories on who the killers may be. But Church reportedly did some kicking out of her own after telling an ex-boyfriend to sleep elsewhere at V Festival.

Church and her family were allegedly scheduled to spend time in the elite camping area of Virgin Media’s resort. And Gavin Henson, Church’s long-term partner at the time, was supposed to be one of those who played for former Wales.

According to legend, those plans allegedly failed as Henson and some pals were instructed to look elsewhere for lodging. And Henson was left torn as his Saturday plans sank.

The plan was for Gavin and Charlotte to let a few friends stay, according to a source close to the situation, but later on Saturday night she made the decision to move his male friends.

READ MORE: What Charlotte Church asked her ex after splitting up shows her true coloursREAD MORE: ‘Charlotte Church was so excited when I proposed to her but six weeks later we broke up’

According to some, the incident has to do with the 2009 V Festival, which included Henson and Church. The former couple, who have two children together, reportedly booked a Mongolian tent or yurt to enjoy a little more luxury in Chelmsford at the time of the report that year.

Even though they both didn’t get the same amount of enjoyment as they had hoped, figures from the time estimate that the lodging cost them £600 per night. Egyptian cotton linen and fluffy towels were provided with each tent.

Not to mention squabbling with other celebs at the same table. However, there was definitely something wrong with the glamping experience.

3 images to be seen

In spite of Henson’s leadership of The Fox pub in the Vale of Glamorgan, Church is still in the public eye after her appearance on Celebrity Traitors.

Before she received the chop, however, the former chart-topper had little chance to make much of an impact. After Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, and Cat Burns, the Traitor trio, made the decision to quit.

Henson was prevented from sleeping near his then-girlfriend by the V Festival scandal, as well. The grandmother of Church arranged for the rugby player to travel on at least one occasion with the singer.

3 images to be seen

In the middle of the 2000s, Henson was at his best when Ospreys and Wales were watching him, and Church would stay with her while he was away from the squad. Church Sr’s house was sacred, and under her roof, there wouldn’t be a marriage.

The Love Island winner, who claimed she “loved the wrong people” but “does not regret anything,” opened up about her failed relationships with Sammy Kimmence and Jack Fincham.

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Dani Dyer has opened up about her failed relationships with Sammy Kimmence and fellow Love Island winner Jack Fincham, admitting she “loved the wrong people”. The 29 year old first started to make a name for herself when she went on the hit ITV dating show Love Island in 2018, and went on to win the show with her then-boyfriend Jack.

Dani and Jack broke up shortly after winning Love Island, and they later dated Sammy, who they also had dated before joining the cast. She and Sammy had a son named Santiago, who was born in 2021.

However, she and Sammy split in July of that year after he was given a three-year prison sentence for plotting a £34k scam. Dani, who she chatted with on Jamie Laing’s podcast, acknowledged that she had no regrets about her past relationships and that she had “loved the wrong person.”

READ MORE: £20 sleep mist ‘like floating on clouds’ helps shoppers ‘fall asleep instantly’READ MORE: Dani Dyer reveals she suffered heartbreaking secret miscarriage

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5 images to be viewed

She said she “shouldn’t have gone back there” when talking about her time with Sammy. He never wanted to settle down with me, she said, because he was a major player and I shouldn’t have taken him back. “I have no regrets about having Santi, so I’m so happy I had him.”

She continued, “very civil,” for the good of their son because they never wanted him to feel “uncomfortable” as a result.

Dani now has two other children – twins Summer and Star – with her husband Jarrod Bowen. She said she sometimes feels “guilty” that her son has broken up parents.

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5 images to be viewed

“He is never going to know that his mother and father are together, and I always feel bad because Jarrod’s twins say “Daddy, daddy,” but Santi doesn’t.

Dani also acknowledged that she had never visited Sammy while he was incarcerated and that she had always felt foolish because she had never inquired what he was doing. “I just loved the wrong person, and I didn’t want to say anything to make Santi think,” I said. “I stayed silent.”

Reflecting on her relationship with Jack, she said that “genuinely thought [she’d] met the one” but that they wanted different things. She wanted to stay home and cook, whilst Jack wanted to go out. “We just weren’t compatible on the outside world.”