Claudia Winkleman may be one of the most in-demand TV hosts, but she’s shared some harsh advice she received when she first started out.
The 51-year-old broadcaster is presently the host of not just Strictly Come Dancing, but also The Traitors and The Piano, as well as her own BBC Radio 2 programme.
But, when she was starting out, both her family and her colleagues gave her advice on what they felt would help her move forward.
Claudia addressed the audience at the Edinburgh TV Festival last week what her parents, in particular, had told her.
‘My parents told me basically, “You just have to work incredibly hard and don’t be a turd”,’ she explained.
The presenter then went on to describe what she was told when she first started on Strictly: It Takes Two, which she presented from 2004 to 2010, before moving on to co-host the main results show with Tess Daly starting in 2014.
She continued, as reported by the Daily Mail: ‘And one of my old producers on Strictly: It Takes Two used to say two things in my earpiece before we started filming – “Don’t be s***. It’s only telly” And I always try.’
Despite her busy schedule, Claudia denied the notion that she was one of the hardest working women in television throughout the conversation.
‘All I do is paint myself orange and read from an autocue,’ she joked.
During the event, Claudia also revealed that when she was offered the position hosting the main Strictly programme, she was asked to trim her now-famous fringe.
She was then informed one of her superiors thought her haircut was ‘annoying’ since it was ‘down to her nose’ and made her seem ‘invisible’.
Claudia, on the other hand, didn’t seem to worry too much, claiming the programme was a “machine” and she wasn’t “even a cog” in it.
The next season of the BBC dancing show, featuring Angela Rippon, Les Dennis, Adam Thomas, and Zara McDermott, is slated to air in the coming weeks.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC later this year.
