Yahoo News Heartbreaking reason Strictly's Claudia Winkleman doesn't wear Halloween costume
Tess Daly doesn't wear a Halloween costume in support of her co-star
Strictly Come Dancing's Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly don't wear Halloween costumes every year.
The Halloween special is one of the most talked about episodes of the series. Every year the celebrity contestants, Strictly pros and the judges — Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke — undergo an amazing transformation while wearing Halloween costumes.
Meanwhile, Winkleman and Daly wear their usual glamorous attire on the dancefloor. They have done this every year since Winkleman's daughter Matilda suffered burns in an accident on Halloween in 2014. As Winkleman's best friend and close on-screen co-star, Daly supports her by choosing to not wear a Halloween costume on the occasion too.
Some viewers don't realise and question why the Strictly Come Dancing hosts do not choose to style Halloween costumes on social media.
What happened?
In 2014, Winkleman experienced every parents' worst nightmare.
Her daughter Matilda was eight years old when she was burned wearing a Halloween costume while out trick or treating with friends in west London. At the time, she suffered serious burns in a witch's costume when the costume brushed against a candle.
Matilda had several operations and was treated at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
The presenter, who also hosts The Traitors, missed part of Strictly Come Dancing following the accident at the time in 2014. Winkleman and her husband Chris Thykier raise their children Matilda, Jake and Arthur together at their family home.
In the time since this nightmare scenario, Winkleman has become a campaigner for the safety regulations around materials that are used in children's fancy dress costumes.
The Winkleman family's neighbour Jamie Poulton was left with second degree burns, too, having attempted to extinguish the blaze with his bare hands.
He previously said of the event: "It was like a potential horror film in front of me. This material just keeps reigniting and re-burning. And it is sticky, so it melts on the skin. It was horrific."
What has Claudia Winkleman said about the accident?
The Strictly host has been left haunted by the accident. "I don't like Halloween because three years ago it turned out our screams were real," Winkleman previously commented during an interview on BBC's Watchdog in 2017.
"She 'went up' is the only way I can describe it - it was a spark, and she screamed out for me. It was like those horrific birthday candles that you blow out and they come back. It was really fast, it wasn't fire like I'd seen.
"It was definitely life-changing for me. I was talking to somebody and then I heard her shout and she was on fire. It feels like she was on fire for hours, but the surgeon said it was probably just seconds."
