Janette Manrara broke her silence on Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman's shock announcement that they'd be leaving Strictly Come Dancing at the end of this series.

The star danced into the It Takes Two studio as always, but they were opening with some sad news, as it was revealed the duo would be stepping down after this year's Christmas series.

"You may have already heard the news, Tess and Claudia announced this morning that they'd be leaving Strictly Come Dancing at the end of this series," Janette announced in front of a photo of the pair.

"Tess has presented the show since it's very first episode, alongside the legendary Sir Bruce, while Claudia originally presented our show, before moving over to host the results show alongside Tess in 2010. They've both presented the main show and results show together since 2014."

After announcing the news, Janette simply added: "Ladies we are going to miss you both so much, but luckily we still have them for the rest of what promises to be a brilliant series and the Christmas special."

The pair appeared together in a video, which they posted on Tess and Claudia's Instagram pages, as they shared their decision to "pass the baton" on to new presenters. Tess, 56, has been hosting the programme for 21 years while Claudia, 53, has been her co-host for 11 years.

After sharing separate statements on their own social media pages, the pair posted a joint video, in which they addressed their fans.

In the video, Claudia began with: "Hi it's Claud and Tess. There have been some rumblings and we want you to hear this from us..."

Tess then added: "Yeah we have news. After 21 wonderfully joyful years on Strictly we have decided the time is right to step aside and pass on the baton..."

"The very sparkly baton..." Claudia continued before she turned to Tess and said: "You've been here since the beginning..."

Tess then replied: "2004 with Brucey - lovely Bruce. That's over two decades ago and a lot of that time has been with you. It's been a huge part of our lives, hasn't it? Since our children were literally babes in arms and now they're young adults and I think, genuinely we have cherished every second."

Claudia added: "We have, we're so lucky to have been part of this amazing show and we just want to thank the Strictly team because Strictly is the people who make it so thank you..." Tess agreed: "They are the very best team in television we've been so lucky. And the audience as well, they've been so wonderful. They've been with us for this entire journey of 21 years and we wouldn't have a show without them and they've been just so loyal and supportive."

Claudia then said: "We're loving this series we're going to have a brilliant..." "It's the best series isn't it," Tess added. Claudia continued: "Series to come and we can't wait to get to Blackpool..."

Tess then said: "And we can't wait to do that show dance that we have long dreamt of and longed to do..." The pair then bickered over the show dance as Claudia said she would "applaud from the side" before the pair said bye.

Strictly's Janette Manrara 'briefly' addresses Tess and Claudia's exit on It Takes Two - The Mirror