Claudia Winkleman joked Crufts hosting job tops her wedding day
Claudia Winkleman is co-presenting Crufts on Channel 4, and she joked the experience is better than her wedding day.
Claudia Winkleman said co-hosting Crufts was the "best day of [her] life" - and joked it tops her wedding day.
Thursday (05.03.26) marked the broadcaster's debut on Channel 4's presenting team for the world's best dog show - staged at Birmingham's NEC - as she interviewed guests and dog owners, and covered the event's first grooming competition.
Claudia, 54, was also invited to be a handler for Honey, one of 22 hounds that performed complex walking routines for spectators, as part of the Southern Golden Retriever Society’s Display Team.
As the camera panned down on Honey, she told her 55-year-old co-host Clare Balding, who was in the studio: "Clare, I'm going to be honest with you, I've had the best day of my life."
Clare quizzed Claudia on working with the Golden Retrievers as Honey walked off, with Claudia telling the pooch: "Not now, Honey, we've had this conversation. Honey, remember, we do twirling, sit, good girl!'
"Clare, are you ready to be both appalled and alarmed?"
Clare - who took part in Claudia's BBC game show, The Celebrity Traitors in 2025 - replied: "I'm ready to be impressed."
Claudia went on to say that "everybody else is amazing, this is David, and he's helped me" before she expressed her appreciation for presenting at Crufts - which puts on dog agility, obedience, flyball, heelwork to music, and Best in Show competitions.
She said: "But Clare, thanks so much for letting me come, that's all I want to say."
Claudia soon let David handle "both Poppy and Honey because I wasn't very good" after she lagged behind the rest of the Southern Golden Retriever Society’s Display Team, and Honey jumped up and refused to sit when instructed.
And Claudia then joked that the experience was better than when she married film producer Kris Thykier at London's Marylebone Town Hall in June 2000.
The star - who met Kris, 54, through mutual friends - quipped to Clare: "But there it is, best day of my life. I quite liked my wedding; this is better."
Claudia and Kris have kept details of their big day private, but during an appearance on Michael McIntyre's The Wheel in 2021, she admitted to not liking her wedding dress.
A contestant on the BBC game show shared her intentions to buy a gown if she won the prize money, but when Claudia got a question wrong, the TV presenter said: "I am going to buy you a wedding dress because I don't think that's the right answer.
"Mine was disgusting, so I won't lend it to you, but that's what we're going to do."
