source:BBC News
Presenter Zoe Ball has announced she is leaving Strictly Come Dancing’s spin-off programme It Takes Two.
She has presented the show, which is broadcast every weekday evening during Strictly’s run, since 2011.
“Dance lovers, after 10 joyous years I am waltzing away from It Takes Two,” Ball wrote on Instagram.
She said it was “time for some new cha cha challenges” and thanked “the whole Strictly clan… I will miss you all immensely.”
Ball continued to co-present the programme even after she began hosting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show in 2019.
However, she reduced the number of It Takes Two episodes she presented every week, with Rylan Clark-Neal fronting the programme on certain days in her place.
Ball also announced that professional dancer Ian Waite, who regularly appears on the show to critique the contestants, would also be leaving the programme after 10 years.
In her statement, Ball thanked Waite as well as other regular show contributors Gethin Jones and costume designer Vicky Gill.
“As a massive @BBCStrictly fan I have loved spending my Autumn teatimes with the celebrity dancers, the gorgeous & awesome pro dancers, the judges, my girl Vicky Gill, Rylan, Gethin & of course my main man Ian Waite,” Ball said.
“Time now for some new cha cha challenges. I will continue to support the Strictly family on the Breakfast Show & can’t wait to watch the Class Of 2021 from my sofa. Huge love & grateful thanks to Tess [Daly] & Claudia [Winkleman] & the whole Strictly clan, the It Takes Two fans, my Glam Squad, Eve Winstanley, Alex McLeod, the BBC2 gang, & of course the best telly crew ever. I will miss you all immensely.”
