Claudia Winkleman says her life changed dramatically once she she decided to start saying ‘yes’ to opportunities at the age of 50.
The Strictly Come Dancing host is to take on her latest solo presenting gig on BBC One’s The Traitors but she claims she may not have taken the role on in her previous mindset, even if she feels she’s ‘falling apart physically’.
She explained to The Sun: ‘I mean, it’s 50, and we’re only here for two minutes, so I felt like I wanted to work a bit more and be less risk-averse.
Taking the bull by the horns: Claudia Winkleman says her life changed dramatically once she she decided to start saying ‘yes’ to opportunities at the age of 50
‘I love it, I love being 50. Everything’s falling apart physically, it is like my skin is completely made of crepe paper now, who knew?
‘I’ve always just really liked playing bridge, and a heavy tog duvet. And at 50 you can do all of that and you don’t have to make any excuses. You’re no longer the odd one out.
‘But then my eldest left home for university and I was asked to do this show and I just thought, “I just can’t say no”.’
New start: The Strictly Come Dancing host is to take on her latest solo presenting gig on BBC One’s The Traitors but she claims she may not have taken the role on in her previous mindset
She has also taken on the job of fronting new Channel 4 quiz One Question.
Claudia is mother to sons Jake, 19, and Arthur, 11, and daughter Matilda, 16, with her film producer husband Kris Thykier, who she married in 2000.
In 2016, she decided to scale back her television work so she could concentrate on her family life but has changed her professional outlook at the age of 50.
Family affair: Screen star Claudia decided to take on more presenting jobs after her eldest child Jake, 19 (right), went to university (Jake pictured with his father, Claudia’s husband Kris Thykier, who she married in 2000. Seen in 2021)
Claudia hosts BBC ballroom contest Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly but she insists she doesn’t mix her home life with her professional life.
She says her two eldest children enjoy watching the show but her youngest does not, adding that she wouldn’t make them and she would never view herself on the programme.
The TV star’s upcoming new series, which is based on a Dutch format, sees players work together to complete spectacular physical and mental missions in the remote Scottish Highlands.
On air: Claudia co-hosts BBC ballroom contest Strictly Come Dancing alongside fellow presenter Tess Daly (right)
If they are successful, they add money to a prize pot, but must avoid being ‘banished’ from the show by a ‘traitor’ – a fellow contestant working as a double agent.
Claudia said: ‘I’m obsessed by psychological games and I couldn’t stop watching the Dutch version of the show.
‘The fact that the BBC version is set in a castle in Scotland and the producers want me to wear tweed meant I was all in.’
The start of the game sees a small number of players secretly selected by Claudia to be The Traitors.
New job: Claudia is to take on her latest solo presenting gig on BBC One’s The Traitors (pictured at a screening for the show this month)
The rest of the players are known as The Faithful and none of this group know who The Traitors are.
Players are eliminated in one of two ways; each night, The Traitors meet in secret and decide to ‘murder’ one of The Faithful and, the next morning when the group meet for breakfast, the ‘murdered’ player does not appear.
Later in the day, all the players meet at the Round Table and decide to ‘banish’ a player they suspect of being a Traitor.
Whoever they pick will reveal if they are indeed a Traitor or a Faithful.
At the end of the game, the few remaining players will share the prize pot if they are all Faithful, but if there is still a Traitor among them, the Traitor takes all the prize money.
Loved-up: Claudia is mother to sons Jake, 19, and Arthur, 11, and daughter Matilda, 16, with her film producer husband Kris Thykier, who she married in 2000 (pictured in March this year)
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