Claudia Winkleman is a much-loved television personality thanks to her weekly hosting of Strictly Come Dancing. The presenter took over from Sir Bruce Forsyth in 2014 and has been a major part of the dancing competition ever since. This year is no different as she returns tonight (Saturday, October 26) to present the Halloween episode.
Strictly Come Dancing is currently airing weekly on Saturday nights with new episodes of the dancing competition.
This year, the competition is hosted once again by Tess Daly and Winkleman.
Tonight is the Halloween special episode, which marks a difficult time of year for television personality Winkleman.
Back in 2014, her daughter was hospitalised after her costume caught fire while she was out trick or treating.
The incident happened after the synthetic material of the costume brushed by a cable, causing it to go up in flames.
READ MORE: Claudia Winkleman: Strictly host ‘struggled to breathe’ during show
At the time, Winkleman took some time off from presenting Strictly Come Dancing in order to care for her daughter.
She later spoke out about the accident in an interview with Chris Hollins on Watchdog in May 2015.
In the interview, she said it was a supermarket witch costume her daughter was wearing at the time of the accident.
She said: “I bought her costume from a supermarket, she wanted to go as a witch so she had a witch’s hat and a cape.
“And I was talking to somebody and I just heard her scream and she just screamed ‘mummy’ and I turned around and that was that.
“She was just on fire – I mean she was on fire.”
She added: “Everyone was screaming, she was screaming, all the kids there were screaming.
“It feels like she was fire for hours but the surgeon said that definitely wasn’t the case.
“But she went up, it’s the only way I know how to describe it. It was not like fire I had seen before.
“So manically me and this other lovely dad called Jamie were just patting and patting her but it just kept in front of her eyes.
“It was like horrific birthday candles that you blow out and they come back. We couldn’t put her out.”
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Sadly her daughter was left with severe injuries and had to undergo a number of operations.
However, after the terrifying incident, Winkleman decided to speak out about the incident to warn other parents.
This is partially because costumes do not have to meet the same fire safety standards as other children’s clothes.
In the same Watchdog segment, the surgeon who treated her spoke about the need for legislation.
Winkleman added: “It was definitely life-changing for me. I can’t remember life before it.
“I would like parents – just on Halloween – to think about what they’re going to put their kids in because I didn’t, and it cost us.”
Ahead of Halloween this year, parents are being warned to look for a fire safety label in their Halloween costumes after more strict guidelines have come into place.
While retailers are not required to use these, many have begun adding the label to products.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.35pm.
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