Tess Daly is an English television presenter best known for hosting Strictly Come Dancing for 21 years, from the show’s first series in 2004 until she stepped down at the end of 2025. Born Helen Elizabeth Daly on 29 March 1969 in Stockport, Cheshire, she is 57 years old as of October 2026. Before television she spent more than a decade as an international fashion model; since then she has added novelist, businesswoman and MBE to her roles. In May 2026, she and her husband of 22 years, presenter Vernon Kay, announced they were separating amicably.
Her departure closed one of the longest presenting runs in British television. She was there from the very first episode, first alongside Sir Bruce Forsyth and then, from 2014, with Claudia Winkleman. When the pair announced they were leaving together on 23 October 2025, they said hosting the show had been “an absolute dream” and that it “feels like the right time”.
At a Glance: Tess Daly
- Full name: Helen Elizabeth Daly — “Tess” is a nickname she adopted early in her modelling career, after the heroine of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
- Born: 29 March 1969, Stockport, Cheshire, England — 57 years old as of October 2026.
- Raised: Birch Vale, near New Mills, Derbyshire; nine O-levels at New Mills Secondary School.
- Best known for: Co-presenting BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2025 — 21 years, 23 series.
- Co-hosts: Sir Bruce Forsyth (2004–2013) and Claudia Winkleman (2014–2025).
- Honour: Appointed MBE in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting; invested at Windsor Castle on 12 November 2025.
- Before television: International model, scouted at 18; worked in Tokyo, Paris and New York; in two Duran Duran videos in 1990.
- Books: Two novels, The Camera Never Lies (2011) and It’s Up to You New York (2013), and the wellbeing book 4 Steps: To a Happier, Healthier You (2023).
- Business: Co-founder of the swimwear brand Naia Beach.
- Family: Married Vernon Kay on 12 September 2003; daughters Phoebe (b. October 2004) and Amber (b. May 2009); amicable separation announced 8 May 2026.
Who Is Tess Daly?
Tess Daly is one of the most familiar faces on British television, and for more than two decades she was the calm centre of Saturday night. While Strictly Come Dancing changed judges, professional dancers and celebrity line-ups around her, Daly was the constant: the presenter who welcomed viewers, introduced the couples and kept the live show moving, first beside Sir Bruce Forsyth and later in a warm double act with Claudia Winkleman.
Her route there was unusual: she came up through modelling, not journalism or acting. Spotted by a talent scout as a teenager in Manchester, she spent her twenties working in Tokyo, Paris and New York before television found her almost by accident.
How Old Is Tess Daly and Where Is She From?
Tess Daly was born Helen Elizabeth Daly on 29 March 1969 in Stockport, Cheshire, and grew up in Birch Vale, a village near New Mills in Derbyshire. She was the elder of two daughters of Vivian and Sylvia Daly, both textile-factory workers; her father, who mixed dyes in a wallpaper factory, died of emphysema in 2003, shortly after walking her down the aisle. Her mother worked shifts in a paper mill. Daly has credited both parents with teaching her “humility, northern grit, the value of working hard”, as she put it in a 2010 interview with The Observer.
She attended Hayfield Primary and New Mills Secondary School, where she gained nine O-levels; her younger sister is Karen. Daly has often described herself as a northern working-class girl spotted by a modelling scout, rather than someone raised inside the entertainment industry.
How Did Tess Daly Become a Model?
Daly’s modelling career began six weeks after her 18th birthday, when a talent scout approached her outside a McDonald’s in Manchester while she waited for her sister. Her first professional job took her to Tokyo; she then worked across Asia and Europe from London, spent five years based in Paris, and five years in New York.
In 1990 she appeared in two Duran Duran videos, “Serious” and “Violence of Summer (Love’s Taking Over)” (from the band’s Liberty album), and in 1993 in The Beloved’s “Sweet Harmony” video. She later became the face of La Senza in the UK, fronting its Christmas 2009 campaign, and walked the catwalk for designers including Vivienne Westwood.
The nickname “Tess” dates from this period: born Helen, she adopted it after the heroine of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles — a choice that has stuck for her entire public life.
How Did Tess Daly Get Into Television?
Daly’s move into television came in New York, where she began interviewing celebrities on red carpets. That experience won her a slot on Channel 4: in 1999 she presented the Find Me a Model competition on The Big Breakfast, her first television presenting job.
Youth-orientated work followed: the dating show Singled Out, Smash Hits TV, L.A. Pool Party (BBC Choice, 2001), Britain’s Brainiest Kid (ITV, 2002) and SMTV Live (2002–2003). In 2003 she replaced Ulrika Jonsson on ITV’s Home On Their Own, and in 2004 she co-hosted Channel 5’s Back to Reality with Richard Bacon, and fronted the first series of Make Me a Supermodel with Dave Berry.
None of those jobs made her a household name. The one that did arrived in 2004, when the BBC asked her to co-host a new celebrity ballroom dancing competition.
Tess Daly on Strictly Come Dancing
The Bruce Forsyth years (2004–2013)
Strictly Come Dancing launched on BBC One in May 2004, and Daly presented it from the first series alongside Sir Bruce Forsyth. The pairing worked: Forsyth, then in his seventies, supplied old-school variety patter, while Daly supplied warmth and steadiness and kept the live show on track. Forsyth dubbed her “Miss Sunshine”, a nickname that stayed with her.
She missed a couple of second-series episodes while pregnant with her first daughter — Natasha Kaplinsky, the first series winner, stood in — and in 2008 she won the Children in Need special, partnered with Anton Du Beke, beating Terry Wogan.
Forsyth gradually stepped back, presenting only the Saturday live show in the tenth and eleventh series while Winkleman hosted the Sunday results show. He left the main show after series 11 in 2013 and died in 2017, aged 89.
The Claudia Winkleman years (2014–2025)
Claudia Winkleman moved from the weekday companion show It Takes Two to co-host the main Saturday show with Daly from series 12 in 2014. The two women had been friends for years, and their partnership became one of the most popular presenting double acts on British television. In 2024 the pair collected the BAFTA TV Award for Entertainment Programme for Strictly Come Dancing.
Together they fronted the show through its 20th anniversary series in 2024 and into series 23 in autumn 2025 — by then Daly had been on the programme for 21 years, longer than any other presenter in its history.
Why did Tess Daly leave Strictly Come Dancing?
On 23 October 2025, Daly and Winkleman announced in a joint Instagram statement that they would leave together at the end of the current series. “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream,” they said. “We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.”
Daly said in the announcement video: “After 21 wonderfully joyful years on Strictly, we have decided that the time is right to step aside and pass over the baton.” Winkleman added she had “always believed it’s best to leave a party before you’re fully ready to go”.
The final series and farewell
They stayed on for the rest of series 23. The live final on 20 December 2025 saw former England footballer Karen Carney and Carlos Gu crowned winners after a public vote, ahead of Amber Davies and George Clarke. It was the pair’s last live show together, and included a video tribute and a message from Queen Camilla, read out by judge Craig Revel Horwood.
Their last appearance together was the pre-recorded Christmas Special on 25 December 2025, won by Scarlett Moffatt and Vito Coppola. Daly marked it by dancing an Argentine tango with professional Aljaz Skorjanec.
The BBC later confirmed the new line-up: Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe, announced in May 2026, took over as hosts for the 2026 series — the first time the show has had three hosts.
What Else Has Tess Daly Presented?
Strictly was the centrepiece of Daly’s career, but she presented plenty of other programmes around it. From 2008 to 2019 she co-presented the BBC’s annual Children in Need telethon alongside Sir Terry Wogan, Fearne Cotton and others. She co-hosted the Royal Variety Performance in 2008, and presented the BBC One shows This Time Tomorrow and the National Lottery draws.
In January 2007 she co-presented the second series of the BBC One singing contest Just the Two of Us with Vernon Kay. She guest-presented The One Show in November 2013 and has returned since. In early 2015 she co-hosted the charity spin-off The People’s Strictly for Comic Relief with Winkleman, and the same year co-hosted Being Mum for AOL alongside Rochelle Humes. She presented Sir Bruce: A Celebration on BBC One in 2018, and in 2019 appeared in the CBBC drama Almost Never as the host of a fictional show called The Spotlight.
Tess Daly Books, Business and Brand Work
Writing has been a second career for Daly. Her first novel, The Camera Never Lies, a story of love behind the scenes of showbusiness, was published by Coronet, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, in 2011, and a second, It’s Up to You New York, followed in 2013. Both drew on her years in modelling and television. In 2023 she published 4 Steps: To a Happier, Healthier You, a wellbeing guide with recipes, exercises and lifestyle advice.
She is also a businesswoman: Daly co-founded the swimwear brand Naia Beach with former swimwear model Gayle Lawton, became the face of L’Oréal in 2013, and in December 2017 became the face of Vitabiotics’ Wellwoman supplement brand. She supports charities including The Prince’s Trust, of which she is a patron, and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
Tess Daly MBE
In the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours, announced on 13 June 2025, Daly was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting; Winkleman received the same honour.
She was invested with the MBE at Windsor Castle on 12 November 2025, accompanied by Vernon Kay. Afterwards she called it “probably the greatest honour of my career” and said she was dedicating it to her late father. She told the Press Association she had cried when she opened the letter telling her about the honour, and that the Queen had sent her a letter of congratulations, “which meant the world”.
Tess Daly Family and Personal Life
Daly met Vernon Kay in 2001 while working together on Top of the Pops@Play. They married on 12 September 2003 at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Horwich, near Bolton, and have two daughters: Phoebe, born in October 2004, and Amber, born in May 2009. The family lived in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.
On 8 May 2026, after 22 years of marriage, they announced in a joint Instagram statement that they had decided to “separate amicably”. The statement, reported by the Press Association, said the decision came “from a place of mutual understanding”, that there were “no other parties involved”, and that they remain friends and “fully committed to our roles as loving and supportive parents”. They asked for privacy and said they would make no further comment.
Their marriage had previously made headlines in 2010, when Kay apologised on air after admitting he had sent explicit text messages to other women; Daly said at the time that their partnership was “worth fighting for”.
Daly has kept her daughters largely out of the public eye; both were babies when she started on Strictly, and young adults by the time she left.
What Is Tess Daly Doing Now?
As of October 2026, Daly has announced no new regular television presenting role since leaving Strictly Come Dancing. The 2026 series of the show is being presented by Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe, as confirmed by the BBC in May 2026.
Her 21 years on Strictly made her one of the most durable presenters in British television history. She arrived as a former model with a handful of youth-TV credits, and left as an MBE, a published author and a businesswoman — the presenter who, for two decades, said “keep dancing” at the end of every Saturday night.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Tess Daly?
Tess Daly is 57 as of October 2026. She was born Helen Elizabeth Daly on 29 March 1969 in Stockport, Cheshire, and grew up in Birch Vale, near New Mills in Derbyshire.
Why did Tess Daly leave Strictly Come Dancing?
Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced on 23 October 2025 that they would leave Strictly Come Dancing together at the end of series 23, saying it “feels like the right time”. Daly had presented the show for 21 years, since its first series in 2004; their final appearance together was the Christmas Special on 25 December 2025.
Who replaced Tess Daly on Strictly Come Dancing?
Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe were confirmed by the BBC in May 2026 as the new hosts, taking over for the 2026 series. Radebe, a former professional dancer on the show, became the first ex-professional to present it.
Is Tess Daly still married to Vernon Kay?
No. On 8 May 2026 they announced in a joint statement that they had decided to “separate amicably” after 22 years of marriage. They said there were no other parties involved, that they remain friends, and that their priority is their roles as parents to daughters Phoebe and Amber.
What is Tess Daly’s real name?
Her real name is Helen Elizabeth Daly. She adopted the name Tess early in her modelling career, after the heroine of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
Has Tess Daly written any books?
Yes — two novels, The Camera Never Lies (2011) and It’s Up to You New York (2013), both published by Coronet, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and the wellbeing book 4 Steps: To a Happier, Healthier You (2023).
What is Tess Daly’s MBE for?
Daly was appointed MBE in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting, and invested at Windsor Castle on 12 November 2025. She said she was dedicating it to her late father; her Strictly co-host Claudia Winkleman received the same honour.
