Before taking on the massive job of Strictly Come Dancing, Claudia Winkleman was requested to modify anything about her looks.
BBC Television Executive Danny Cohen informed the 51-year-old that she had been hired in 2014.
Claudia eagerly accepted the assignment, so the call began with niceties.
‘Danny Cohen gave me the job and phoned me up and said, “We’d love you to do it.” I said, “Thank you so much, that is such an honour”.’
Claudia then told how the conversation took an unexpected turn when presenting at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
‘He added “I’m just going to need a phone number from you” and I was like, “Oh yeah, OK, which one?” and he said, “Your hairdresser’s”.
‘I was like, “Bit weird, controller of BBC One”.’
Claudia found out 48 hours later why he’d made such an unusual request.
‘Two days later, James, who does my hair, said, “This guy called Danny phoned up to complain about the length of your fringe”.
‘He [Danny] was like: “You can have this job but it’s just annoying, it’s down to your nose. You want to be on telly but you’re invisible”.’
Claudia, who said that the programme was larger than her, didn’t appear to mind the request.
‘I don’t say this in a faux self-deprecating way. It is a machine. A steam engine. I’m not even a cog,’ she explained.
Claudia, who received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the event, also discussed how she was concerned about competing on Strictly but didn’t hesitate to be part of a female pair with Tess Daly.
‘I felt incredibly nervous at the time but the two women thing, the biggest show on television by miles at that point, ratings-wise, in recent history was Bake Off and that was hosted by two women.’
At the time, Great British Bake Off was hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.
‘So I was, like, I’m not even pulling on that string,’ she concluded.
Claudia and Tess, both 54, will return to the Strictly Come Dancing stage in 2023.
On September 23, the current crop of celebs are scheduled to cha-cha-cha onto the dance floor.
It’s no surprise that the cast, which includes Bobby Brazier, Zara McDermott, and Amanda Abbington, is already working on their dance routines.
If a month is too long to wait to find out who gets paired with whom, a popular hypothesis could hold the answers.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC later this year.
Source My Celebrity Life.