Fans of hit BBC show The Traitors have been left utterly stunned after unearthing a clip of host Claudia Winkleman from 1996, revealing her without the iconic blunt fringe that has defined her look for decades.
The archival footage, shared from the BBC vaults on Instagram, shows a young Winkleman presenting on Good Morning with Anne and Nick on 3 May 1996. Viewers were confronted with a version of the presenter sporting longer, lighter hair and, most shockingly, no fringe at all.
A Look Back to 1996
The resurfaced clip was originally part of a segment where Winkleman offered "top tips and choice chat-up lines" to help people improve their "pulling power." However, for modern audiences, the content was secondary to the host's radically different appearance.
The video has been viewed thousands of times, with fans flocking to social media to express their disbelief. One viewer remarked, "That’s the first time I’ve seen Claudia’s eyes. Aren’t they lovely!" while another simply stated, "Oh wow. I would never have known that was Claudia."
Multiple comments echoed the sentiment of non-recognition, with users writing "I would never have recognised her!" and "She looked so different back then. I hardly recognise her." The consensus was clear: the contrast between her past and present look was profound.
Behind the Iconic Fringe
Winkleman has openly discussed her signature hairstyle in the past, often with her trademark self-deprecating humour. She once told Good Housekeeping magazine, "Even I know my fringe is bad."
She revealed a very practical, and personal, reason for the style, linking it to her severe myopia. "But basically I’ve got such bad eyesight, I can’t see it anyway, so it’s not a problem," she explained. Despite undergoing multiple eye operations, her vision remains a challenge.
Expanding on this in an interview with the How To Fail podcast, she connected her poor sight to her aesthetic preferences: "I've always had terrible eyesight, which goes back to the blurriness of the paintings I like, and the blurriness of how I really like life to be."
She joked about her fringe ambitions, adding, "My fantasy is to have it so long I have to part it to answer a question!"
More Than Just a Hair Shock
This fringe revelation is not the only recent surprise for Winkleman's followers. Just days before the archive clip circulated, she had already shocked fans by tweaking her look in another unexpected way, keeping her audience continually intrigued by her style evolution.
The discovery serves as a fascinating reminder of how a single style choice can become synonymous with a public figure's identity. For Claudia Winkleman, her dark, blunt fringe is as much a part of her brand as her sharp wit and role hosting the hugely popular The Traitors.
While fans may be astonished by her 1990s transformation, the footage ultimately highlights her long and successful career in television, proving her appeal stretches far beyond any single hairstyle.
