Tess Daly, who has co-hosted Strictly Come Dancing since 2004, surprised viewers earlier this week when she and Claudia Winkleman announced they would be stepping away from the programme. The news came as a shock to long-time fans of the show, but another unexpected revelation has also captured attention: Tess Daly is not actually her real name. The presenter was born Helen Elizabeth Daly, a detail that has recently resurfaced and quickly gone viral.
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Daly has previously explained that the name change came at the start of her modelling career, when she was just 18. At the time, another model shared a very similar name, Helen Davies, and her agent felt a new name would help her stand out professionally. The inspiration came from actress Nastassja Kinski, who starred in the film Tess, and Daly’s agent believed the pair looked alike. Although she admitted she was “gullible and impressionable” at that age, her career soon took off, leading her to travel and work in major fashion capitals including Paris, Milan and New York.
Despite decades in the public eye as Tess, her birth name has not entirely disappeared from her life. She remains Helen Daly on her passport, and her mother is the only person who still occasionally calls her by her original name – though even she more often uses terms of endearment. Daly has noted that hearing “Helen” can take her a moment to register after so many years living under her professional name.
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Alongside this renewed interest in her identity, her departure from Strictly marks the end of an era. In a joint statement shared on social media, Daly expressed her gratitude for 21 “wonderful years” on the programme and said the time felt right to hand over the baton. Although fans will certainly miss seeing her on Saturday nights, her legacy as one of the familiar faces of the beloved dance competition remains firmly in place.
