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Claudia Winkleman’s former co-stars have revealed “what people at home don’t see”. The 54-year-old took over presenting duties of Strictly Come Dancing alongside Tess Daly in 2014.

But the duo announced that the most recent series of the hit BBC show would be their last. It marked the end of Claudia’s time presenting the popular Clauditorium segments on the show.

Claudia was known for her playful antics as she interviewed the celebrities and their professional partners backstage. Strictly judge Shirley Ballas says she would regularly have the cast in stitches.

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In the documentary, Claudia Winkleman: Behind the Fringe, Shirley said: “Some of the antics she gets up to in the Clauditorium make me wet my pants. She picks up on everything, she’s not scripted.”

Shirley explained Claudia would arrive at rehearsals with “a pair of slippers, baggy pants, and a jumper”. She continued: “She’s as mad as a box of frogs.

“Even when we’re in the studio and the show is about to take place and I look at her, she’s all glam, and then the cameras move to Tess and she takes off her heels, runs up to the Clauditorium, flicking her Spanx and pulling them out of her little bottom, and running here, tossing her hair, she’s just bonkers.”

Strictly professional Karen Hauer added: “This woman is hilarious. She makes people giggle.

“What people don’t see is that when the couples are downstairs talking to Tess, she’s watching everything that they’re saying and she’s taking notes. As they’re coming up the stairs she’s telling all the dancers to clap for them. She’s also a cheerleader.”

Fellow professional Kai Widdrington also says there are “so many working parts” to Claudia’s role on the show that “people at home may not even see”.

He added: "You've got people in her ear, she’s got a teleprompter, she’s got a couple, she’s got a celeb that might be emotional. She’s got the judges' scores in.”

In October Claudia and Tess announced they would both be leaving Strictly. In a joint statement, they said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

"We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show."

Last month the Mirror reported that a host of stars, including The One Show’s Alan Carr and The Chase presenter Bradley Walsh were among the favourites to land the Strictly job. It came as Alan Carr, Rylan Clark, Rob Rinder, Zoe Ball, Holly Willoughby, Amanda Holden, Alison Hammond and Angela Scanlon are said to have taken part in a screentest for the role.

Since leaving Strictly Claudia has returned to screens with The Traitors. The show will return at 8pm tonight ahead of tomorrow’s dramatic final, which airs at the later time of 8.30pm.

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