Winkleman and Norton head betting to replace Forsyth on Strictly

Bruce Forsyth may be part of the Strictly Come Dancing furniture, but few could argue that the final curtain must be coming down soon on his time as host, given his bad gags, trouble reading autocues and a sketchy attendance record, which means he already misses the results shows.

However, deciding who should step into Forsyth’s 85-year-old shoes is not an easy decision.

Forsyth himself has previously championed Ant & Dec to take his place, but it has to be considered doubtful that the duo would jump ship from ITV and their association with both I’m A Celebrity and Britain’s Got Talent.

Leading the Strictly betting to replace Forsyth are Claudia Winkelman (6/4) and Graham Norton (3/1) and both are popular choices from the judging panel on the show.

Head judge Len Goodman believes that Winkleman and Tess Daly make a “brilliant partnership” and this pair have ensured the show runs smoothly on Forsyth’s Sunday rest days.

The big negative to Winkleman’s chances is whether Strictly bosses would be happy to have two females in the lead presenting positions.

If they don’t, Norton would have to be considered a possibility, particularly after doing a reasonable job when presenting the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows for the BBC.

Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli has also spoken highly of Norton in the past.

Aside from these two, it would be interesting if Forsyth was replaced by someone from a dancing background.

Anton Du Beke (6/1) would look most likely from the professional dance cast in the show, but a lack of live TV presenting experience must count against him. Surely, this would be the first requirement of any new presenter?

Of those further down the betting, Sir Terry Wogan is 50/1 and has worked alongside Daly well before when presenting Children In Need, while Ronnie Corbett is the same price and has successfully stood in for Forsyth before.

However, it has to be deemed unlikely that Forsyth would be replaced by another presenter in their 80s.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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