Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly raised £782,686 for Comic Relief with their 24 hour danceathon.
The presenting duo raked in an impressive three quarters of a million pound for the charity, joined by some surprise guests and performers including Fleur East, who performed her new single ‘Favourite Thing’ as well as Davina McCall and Michael Ball. Rylan Clark-Neal challenged Jeremy Vine to a dance off whilst former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professionals Ed Balls and Katya Jones reunited. Mary Berry popped in to offer the pair some words of encouragement with a chocolate cake whilst ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ favourite Anton Du Beke joined in with the dancing.
Speaking before she partook in the event, Claudia said: "I’m so excited to be taking on this epic Danceathon challenge with Tess live at Radio 2 in the legendary Wogan House. I know it’s going to be hilarious to watch because we’re pretty bad dancers – I’m not very good at standing, let alone dancing. Thankfully we’ll have each other and we’re going to push through to raise as much money as we can for Red Nose Day. We love Comic Relief and believe in everything they do. We’ve seen first-hand how the money raised provides a lifeline for people living in the most desperate situations, and we’re doing this for them. We want people at home to come together, dig deep and support us through this because dancing for over 24 hours is going to be one hell of a challenge."
Whilst Tess added: "I am so proud to be supporting Red Nose Day with Claudia. I just hope we have the stamina to ‘keep dancing’ for over 24 hours straight! We were worn out during our first choreography session so it’s no doubt going to be a tough challenge. But, we’re doing this to raise money for Red Nose Day, so it will be incredibly special, and we’ll be thinking of all the people that will benefit from all the amazing projects funded by Comic Relief. Doing this at Wogan House is extra special for me having worked with the great man, Sir Terry, himself many times."