FOLLOWING his triumphant win on The Celebrity Traitors, Alan Carr has been backed to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman on Strictly Come Dancing.
Lewis Cope, who is a contestant on this year’s current series has thrown his support behind Alan after his popularity has hit an all-time high thanks to his success on the BBC One show.
Lewis, 30, said: “I think Alan would be brilliant. He’s funny, people love him, and he’s really current.
“Why not? He’d be hilarious with the judges – he’d probably go, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you were brilliant,” he told the Mirror.
Meanwhile, his dance partner Katya Jones threw It Takes Two presenter Janette Manrara’s hat in the ring.
She explained: “Alan would be great fun, but I think Jeannette Manrara would make an amazing host.
“She knows the dancing, she knows what we go through. She’d bring real heart.”
On Thursday night, Alan became the first winner of The Celebrity Traitors after managing to deceive the faithfuls all series long and going undercover as one of the traitors.
He won a huge cash prize of £87,500 for the charity of his choice, Neuroblastoma UK.
Winner Alan was joined in the final by fellow Traitor Cat Burns, and remaining Faithfuls Joe Marler, Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga.
During discussions, Joe made a pact with Alan and Cat to vote off David, trying to keep them on side until the last minute before he would ‘pull the rug’, secretly convinced they were the Traitors.
So after lengthy discussions at the roundtable, fans couldn’t believe it when Cat was eliminated in a 3-2 vote, with Joe writing her name down, but she wasn’t allowed to reveal that she was a Traitor.
The remaining stars then had to decide who to banish next, with everyone – bar Alan – unsure how many Traitors were left.
Alan went all guns blazing on Joe, and he returned the favour, but then David also voted for Joe.
Surprisingly Nick turned on Joe despite their previous strong alliance, having become concerned about why he had apologised to Cat before voting her out, meaning he was banished.
This left Nick, Alan and David as the remaining players, who then decided to end the game.
As Alan was a Traitor, and had remained undetected by the Faithfuls, he won the show.
Tess and Claudia revealed last month that this series of Strictly Come Dancing will be their last, leaving fans devastated.
In her own statement to her fans, 56-year-old Tess said it was “time to say goodbye” and described Strictly as “about joy, celebration, and bringing people together”.
Tess also paid tribute to her co-host, adding: “To my beloved Claud – what an absolute joy and pleasure it has been sharing this adventure with you.
“You’re one of a kind, and I’ll treasure every giggle, every live show, and every backstage moment we’ve shared.”
Claudia penned: “Strictly is a magical, glittery, fake-tanned train and it’s been a privilege to be a tiny part of it…
“I’ve always believed it’s best to leave a party before you’re fully ready to go.”
She also remembered legendary judge Len Goodman, saying: “I will never forget Len Goodman trying to teach me what a cucaracha is (I still don’t know)
“And the complete thrill and honour it was to work with Tess on the results show to co-hosting on Saturday nights.”
