Oti Mabuse broke down in tears when she learned that Tess Daly and Claudia Winkelman were set to leave their presenting roles on Strictly Come Dancing and had to have her makeup redone

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Oti Mabuse broke down in tears when she learned that Tess Daly and Claudia Winkelman were set to leave their presenting roles on Strictly Come Dancing(Image: ITV/Loose Women )

Oti Mabuse broke down in tears when she learned that Tess Daly and Claudia Winkelman were set to leave their presenting roles on Strictly Come Dancing. The TV star, 35, used to serve as a professional dancer on the programme and now her sister Motsi, 44, is on the judging panel alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke.

Even once the lunchtime ladies were presenting the programme, Oti struggled to keep it together as she paid tribute to her former co-stars. She said: “It’s a big deal, Claudia and Tess have been the queens. Two women side by side. And they care. ‘How’s your husband, how’s your child, family?’

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Oti was getting ready to appear on Thursday’s edition of Loose Women alongside Jane Moore, Nadia Sawalha and Olivia Attwood and had to have her makeup redone because she couldn’t keep hold of her emotions before she came on air(Image: ITV/Loose Women )

“It’s the end of an era. They are my Saturday night. I think it’s a shame and it came out of nowhere.”

Oti was straight on the phone to her sister, who lives in Germany, and implied that even she had no idea that the news was coming and the two of them were left reeling by the ‘shock’ of it all.

She added: “I called my sister like ‘What the hell is that?’ and she’s like ‘You’re in England’ and I’m like ‘You’re a judge, you should know!’ We had two minutes in silence, it came out of nowhere and we were just in shock. It breaks my heart and I wish them luck.”

In the initial announcement, which consisted of a video of the pair sitting next to one another, Claudia began with: “Hi it’s Claud and Tess. There have been some rumblings and we want you to hear this from us…”

Tess added: “Yeah we have news. After 21 wonderfully joyful years on Strictly we have decided the time is right to step aside and pass on the baton…”

“The very sparkly baton…” Claudia continued before she turned to Tess and said: “You’ve been here since the beginning…”

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Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman sensationally announced on Thursday that they are set to leave Strictly Come Dancing(Image: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)

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The pair announced the news in a joint video

Tess then replied: “2004 with Brucey – lovely Bruce. That’s over two decades ago and a lot of that time has been with you. It’s been a huge part of our lives, hasn’t it? Since our children were literally babes in arms and now they’re young adults and I think, genuinely we have cherished every second.”

Claudia added: “We have, we’re so lucky to have been part of this amazing show and we just want to thank the Strictly team because Strictly is the people who make it so thank you…” Tess agreed: “They are the very best team in television we’ve been so lucky.

“And the audience as well, they’ve been so wonderful. They’ve been with us for this entire journey of 21 years and we wouldn’t have a show without them and they’ve been just so loyal and supportive.”