Before she became one of Britain's most beloved television presenters, Claudia Winkleman had a brief and notoriously chaotic career as a personal assistant in the world of high fashion, according to her former boss.
A Glossy Magazine Misadventure
Journalist Kate Reardon has revealed that her time working with Winkleman at Tatler magazine was a 'total disaster'. Reardon, then a 21-year-old fashion editor, shared a fashion cupboard with Winkleman, who was her assistant. Despite Winkleman's current status as the polished host of Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, Reardon recalls her being 'spectacularly bad' at the PA role.
The most infamous incident occurred during a fashion shoot on a yacht in Thailand. As the entire crew worked in oppressive heat and humidity, Winkleman went missing. 'I began to feel nauseous, convinced she had fallen overboard and drowned,' Reardon wrote in The Times. A search party was launched, only to find Winkleman sleeping peacefully on a sunbed on the top deck. The team found her so endearing they simply tiptoed away and resumed the shoot.
From Cambridge to the BBC
Winkleman, a graduate in Art History from the University of Cambridge, began her broadcasting career in 1992 on BBC Two's Holiday programme. She later served as a dating connoisseur on This Morning before landing her first major presenting role on Central Weekend a decade later.
Her association with Strictly Come Dancing began in 2004 on the spin-off show It Takes Two. She frequently stood in for Sir Bruce Forsyth on the main show before officially taking over as co-host alongside Tess Daly in 2014. Since 2022, she has also fronted the massively successful BBC series The Traitors, which returns for a fourth series in January.
A New Chapter After Strictly
Winkleman and Daly recently confirmed that the current series of Strictly will be their last, announcing their joint departure in an emotional Instagram statement. 'We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream,' they said. 'We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.' The BBC has now begun the search for their replacements.
This revelation from her former boss paints a vivid picture of Winkleman's unconventional path to stardom, proving that even a 'spectacularly bad' start in one career doesn't preclude spectacular success in another.
