Claudia Winkleman has announced that she is stepping down from hosting her Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2 after three years.
Presenting on Saturday (2 December) morning, the Strictly Come Dancing host shared that she would be leaving Radio 2 in March 2024 to spend more time with her family.
Winkleman, who currently presents the 10am-1pm slot on Saturdays, will be replaced by comedian Romesh Ranganathan.
She said: “I absolutely love Radio 2 and it’s been a privilege to host the Saturday morning show for three years. I will miss our amazing guests, our brilliant listeners and the one and only Sally Traffic.
“The truth is my children are growing up inordinately fast so I have decided to follow them around at home before they leave for good. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who works on the show, I will continue to visit with badly made biscuits and will pester the bosses to present the odd special.”
She added: “I couldn’t be happier that Romesh is taking over Saturday mornings on Radio 2. He is brilliantly laugh out loud funny, and I’ll listen every single week as my kids beg me to leave them alone.”
Ranganathan, who currently presents For The Love Of Hip Hop for Radio 2, said: “In my many years working as a maths teacher thinking ‘what would happen if I gave this up’, I never imagined I’d be sandwiched between Dermot O’Leary and Steve Wright on the UK’s most popular radio station every Saturday morning.
“I’m grateful to Claud for wanting to spend more time with her kids, and enabling me to spend less time with mine, and I look forward to finding out what the nation is up to at that time, as well as speaking to some familiar faces. It’s going to be fun. Probably.”
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