{"id":644512,"date":"2025-12-20T16:15:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T16:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/644512\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T16:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T16:15:29","slug":"zoe-ball-makes-emotional-bbc-radio-exit-amid-strictly-replacement-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/644512\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Ball makes emotional BBC Radio exit amid Strictly replacement rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zoe Ball has been tipped as a possible replacement for Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.<\/p>\n

An emotional Zoe Ball<\/a> has marked her final BBC Radio 2 programme<\/a> amid rumours she could be landing another huge role<\/a> with the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

The radio presenter, 55, announced she was leaving her Saturday show earlier this month, with today being her final time on air.<\/p>\n

Zoe stepped down from her breakfast show late last year, with Scott Mills taking over, and announced her 1pm to 3pm slot not much later.<\/p>\n

She has now, however, bid farewell to the airwaves, after being joined by a string of guests including Ricky Gervais, Joel Dommett and Angela Hartnett.<\/p>\n

She said: “It’s just time for me to say thank you so much for listening on Saturday afternoons. Don’t forget to look after the gorgeous Emma Willis when she joins you in the New Year.”<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe is rumoured to be the next host of Strictly (Image: PA Archive\/PA Images)READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing favourite teases hosting role with four-word reply<\/a>READ MORE: Death in Paradise star slams ‘disrespectful’ death hoax<\/a><\/p>\n

She signed off: \u201cMerry Christmas<\/a>, love ya!\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, Zoe teased she wouldn\u2019t \u201cbe a stranger,\u201d telling Romesh Ranganathan: \u201cIt\u2019s my last Saturday show\u2026 I\u2019m feeling like everybody else is feeling at this time of year\u2026 a bit like what that Madness record sounded!\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI\u2019m going to miss seeing you, but don\u2019t worry I won\u2019t be a stranger, I\u2019ll come and find you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romesh also teased the Strictly replacement rumours, hinting: \u201cWith this being your last show, there\u2019s been a lot of rumours, various whisperings from colleagues, people are asking me to ask you this, and I just want to put this rumoured to be, is it true you\u2019re leaving your Saturday show because of\u2026 Sally Traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tess2025 marks Tess and Claudia’s final series as Strictly Come Dancing presenters (Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Zoe replied: \u201cLet\u2019s put that down now, Sally and I have been in love with each other for a long time and we just decided we can\u2019t possibly work in the same building anymore because the magnetism is too huge. I love that woman to bits.\u201d<\/p>\n

This comes amid rumours Zoe will be stepping in for Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, who announced weeks ago that this year\u2019s Strictly series – with the final airing tonight – would be their last.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, they said their time on the show had been \u201can absolute dream\u201d but it \u201cfeels like the right time\u201d to leave.<\/p>\n

Tess – who gained a Guinness World Record for the longest-serving host of the same dance competition TV show – began presenting Strictly from the start, with Sir Bruce Forsyth. Claudia then joined as a co-host in 2014.<\/p>\n

\"StrictlyTess and Claudia’s replacements have yet to be announced (Image: PA)<\/p>\n

In a statement on Instagram, they wrote: \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC<\/a> and to every single person who works on the show. They\u2019re the most brilliant team and we\u2019ll miss them every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will cry when we say the last \u201ckeep dancing\u201d but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the news of their exit, the likes of Rylan Clark, Holly Willoughby, It Takes Two presenters Janette Manrara and Fleur East, and Zoe have been named as possible replacements.<\/p>\n

The Strictly Come Dancing final airs from 7pm tonight on BBC One and iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new <\/strong>Everything Gossip<\/strong><\/a> website<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Your Christmas TV 2025 magazine is on sale now<\/p>\n

Your Christmas TV magazine is the ultimate 14-day festive TV guide, packed with listings, star features, film guides, and New Year previews. Covering all major Christmas shows and family favourites, it\u2019s on sale now for just \u00a31.70 at retailers across the UK and Ireland, and is also available to buy online (postage and packaging apply). Click here to buy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zoe Ball has been tipped as a possible replacement for Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. An emotional Zoe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[192,748,6572,4884,1888,75206,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-644512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-claudia-winkleman","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-strictly-come-dancing","13":"tag-tess-daly","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115752792852998972","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}