Claudia Winkleman says she’s ‘ridiculously lucky’ to be on Strictly

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The BBC has today released its 2020-2021 salary figures, which showed Gary Lineker and Zoe Ball down as the highest earning presenters, despite the pair taking pay cuts. What was different about this year’s list is Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman being out of the top 10.

Last year, the former was listed as the broadcaster’s third highest earner with an annual salary of £725,000-£729,999.

The host, who left his Radio 2 show in December 2020, has now dropped out of the top 10 entirely.

According to the BBC, he hasn’t made the list because his chat show is produced by BBC Studios, a commercial company.

However, they stated he has earned £150,000 in 2020/2021.

Graham has been fronting his successful self-titled show on the channel since 2007.

He is also the UK voiceover for the Eurovision Song Contest, however this was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Back in December, he presented his final BBC Radio 2 show before moving to Virgin Radio.

He said at the time: “I really feel like I’ve made the right decision, I’m ready to get out of here.

“There’s no disrespect to them, but I have been there for 10 years, ­the show hasn’t changed really in ­10 years and I’ve got a big audience, but it’s not going to get ­any bigger.”

Reflecting on how long he had been at the BBC, he continued: “I think it will take ­a long time for me to ­thaw out of some of those constraints.”

Graham was replaced by Claudia Winkleman, who also fronts Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly.

The presenter is noticeably also not in the latest list, despite earning £365,000-£369,999 from 2019-2020.

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BBC Director-General Tim Davie said of Claudia’s absence: “With regards to the public service payments to Claudia, she started her weekend show this February taking over from Graham, so that’s why this year she is not on the list.

“There is always the question on Studios.

“I would defend robustly that Studios, if we are as the public arm of the BBC buying shows from Studios, it is absolutely appropriate that that business does not disclose all of its individual costs, and that is where we are at.”

Many of the top earning stars have had a 10 per cent pay cut since the last list was published.

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker’s salary has been decreased by £400,000.

Despite this, he remains at the top of the list with a salary of £1,360,000-£1,364,999.

BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball remains the broadcaster’s highest earning female, with a staggering £1,130,000-£1,134,999 pay.

Steve Wright is third on the list with a decreased salary of £465,000-£469,999.

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