Strictly star Claudia Winkleman shares surgery update and says she's 'eternally grateful'

BBC's Strictly Come Dancing legend Claudia Winkleman has shared a major health update with fans and revealed she's "eternally grateful" to the surgeon who operated on her.

Taking to Instagram to share the news with her one million followers on social media, she wrote: "This amazing human makes me see. He's operated on my eyes before and he did it again today. No eyeliner for weeks and I sleep in goggles (no words) but I'm eternally grateful."

Showing off her trademark humour, she then joked to fans that they shouldn't zoom in on her eye, before adding: "Thank you Julian. I paid for the treatment, this isn't an ad. i just love him. It's very possible I'm still a bit sedated. Night night."

Claudia's fans were quick to inundate her with comments of well wishes. One user penned: "He did my eye surgery about 8 years ago! Played rock music as he did it. He told me it would be life changing and he was right. Amazing man!" Another person added: "Looking Good Claudia , goggles on and rest." While someone else enthused: "Gorgeous with or without eyeliner. So glad for your amazing human for this procedure."

In addition to Strictly, Claudia is also known for hosting hit series The Traitors. The game show's season three, which aired in January, brought plenty of newtwists and turns to the iconic game, including Faithfuls being selected for murders in plain sight and a Seer reveal. However, not everyone was impressed with the changes.

The Seer power was introduced for the the first time, but some fans aren't happy with the change and said it has 'ruined' the contestants hard work. One user penned at the time: "I love it but I don't know if I agree with the seer as it undoes all the traitors hard work jn an instant. [sic]"

Filming for season four is set to begin very soon, with a date to air in January 2026. However, if fans can't wait until then, it's been revealed that the BBC is following in US channel Peacock's footsteps and there will be a The Traitors Celebrity edition air this autumn.

Joining Claudia in the Scottish castle will be Alan Carr, Celia Imrie, Charlotte Church, Jonathan Ross, Paloma Faith, Tom Daley and Stephen Fry.