Strictly host top choice ’emerges after frontrunner pulled out’

Alan Carr is reportedly out of contention to be one of the lucky showbiz names to replace Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Celebrity Traitors victor, 49, was said to be a frontrunner for the job, but his 2027 tour dates will clash with the hosting gig.

The Chattyman comedian is set to embark on a mammoth 90-gig tour in 2027, with the Have I Said Too Much? tour dates running from January to the start of December, with several nights already sold out. 

The BBC are reportedly ‘gutted’ amid hopes the show could jump onto Carr’s huge popularity after his stint in the Scottish castle won the heart of the TV-watching nation.

A new ‘top choice’ is now said to have emerged to take on the weekend live shows at Elstree Studios, with former It Takes Two star Rylan Clark reportedly the new favourite to be one half of a hosting duo.

A source told The Sun: ‘[Carr] was their favourite to take on one of the positions but he’s spoken with the BBC and basically he cannot move his tour,’ a source told The Sun. 

‘The dates which are scheduled for 2027 are not able to be rearranged and Alan has had to choose. The BBC understand his position but they are hugely disappointed.

‘They thought Alan would be such a great choice for the job. Rylan has now replaced Alan as one of their top choices, it will come down to how Rylan gets on in the chemistry tests.’

It comes after Carr had been included in the reported list of 10-strong list of showbiz contenders to replace Winkleman and Daly.

The hosting duo bid a teary farewell to BBC viewers this month, after announcing that this 2025 series of the show would be their last at the helm.

Earlier this month, the frontrunners were said to be Bradley Walsh, Alex Jones and Alan Carr, with a reported chemistry day in the offing to test out possible pairings.

Clark was also on the list from a TV insider, but might have been bumped up to a frontrunning spot after Carr’s reported decision to pull out. 

The source told The Sun that the whittled-down list would be tasked with going to a studio to try out different pairings in a chemistry test.

Metro contacted the BBC for comment.

Strictly Come Dancing will return at the end of 2026.

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