Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has taken a savage swipe at his fellow judges, tearing into his co-stars on the first night of his new tour.
The dancer, 60, put the BBC show firmly in the spotlight while speaking about his upcoming tour, admitting that he ‘enjoys’ playing the villain on the judging panel.
And while Craig is no stranger to sharing his outspoken views on the Strictly panel, he has also enjoyed a fiery friendship with the show’s head judge Shirley Ballas.
While the pair regularly exchange playful insults when they disagree on an act, Shirley has also previously admitted that he had some terse words to share during her ‘disastrous’ first audition for the show.
Shirley, who joined the show in 2017, previously told The Telegraph that her first audition for Strictly didn’t go as planned, leading to a shocking three-word response from Craig.
She explained that during her first audition she was asked to critique a 2010 performance by Anne Widdecombe at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
Craig Revel Horwood’s recent comments about his fellow Strictly judges has put the spotlight back on his friendship with Shirley Ballas, which has been fiery from the start
Shirley said: ‘I’d just flown in from the States and I had all my make-up and hair on, and this long evening dress, and I arrived at this freezing cold studio with cameras everywhere. I sat next to Craig Revel Horwood who I’d never met, and he said, ‘We’re going to throw somebody up on the screen, Shirley, and you will have 15 to 20 seconds to critique them. And then we’ll move on.
‘Well, they threw up Ann Widdecombe. I’m a world-class coach and I’d never quite seen anyone in a yellow fluffy dress cleaning the floor before. Craig turned to me and he went, ‘This week, darling,’ but I couldn’t speak. I had no words.
‘There were lots of cameras, some with green lights and I was looking at one with a red light and it just felt a mess.’
Shirley later told the show’s producer that she felt the audition went ‘s**t’ and she was invited to come back the following day for another audition, which she said she ‘nailed.’
She and Craig are also no stranger to cutting remarks on the judging panel, with one such exchange taking place during the most recent series last year.
Following a rumba between Jamie Borthwick and his professional partner Michelle Tsiakkas, Craig said: ‘I felt it lacked connection.
‘I felt it lacked an emotional connection between both of you! It felt like you were dancing by numbers.
‘I felt like we lost the story. I felt like we lost everything that rumba is about.’
But Shirley bit back: ‘He’s got to start somewhere, it’s week two!’ before slamming her hand on the table and adding: ‘He can have a bit more flow!’
While the pair regularly exchange playful insults when they disagree on an act, Shirley has also previously admitted that he had some terse words to share during her ‘disastrous’ first audition
Admitting ‘enjoying playing the villain’ Craig said: ‘There is no other judge. I created it. They are either dead or have been sacked; (Craig and Len pictured 2011)
Shirley has also previously spoken out about how she had a furious row with Craig after he reportedly body-shamed her back in 2018.
The head Strictly judge described how Craig’s ‘painful’ alleged comments about her figure drudged up bad memories from her second marriage to retired dancer Corky.
Shirley said Craig gave a grovelling apology after he is said to have told a crowd her breasts were ‘hanging out’ when she auditioned to replace Len Goodman.
Craig allegedly said while promoting his autobiography at the time: ‘What happened is that she came to the audition and literally had her thing open to her navel. I am not joking.
‘Her boobs were like La BaZooKa things hanging out. It was not very, erm, Strictly. So they came in and sewed all that up. Then they had to push them down… and they’re fake.’
Two years on, Shirley spoke of her shock in her autobiography, Behind The Sequins.
In an extract obtained by The Mirror, the retired dancer said: ‘It was awful and very, very painful. It brought up a lot of things from my past that I thought I’d dealt with.’
She claimed: ‘Once again, I was propelled back to my toughest days with [ex-husband] Corky, when he would make comments about my appearance: my crooked teeth, my nose, my a**e that was too big.
‘All those insults just came flying back as I read what Craig had said, apparently in jest. I told him exactly how I felt.’
Shirley said she told Craig she felt a sense of betrayal as she felt he should ‘feel like a protector to me and I should to you.’
The Strictly star added Craig gave her a grovelling apology and sent her flowers as an olive branch.
It comes after Craig took a savage swipe at his former panelists Len Goodman and Arlene Phillips, in a desperate bid to sell tickets to his show.
The star, 60, was full of praise for his own talents and put the BBC show’s successes down to himself, in the process also writing off current co-stars Shirley, 64, Anton Du Beke, 58, and Motsi Mabuse, 43.
Craig, was a member of the inaugural judging panel when the hit dancing show launched in 2004, alongside Len, Arlene and Bruno Tonioli, 59.
Admitting ‘enjoying playing the villain’ told The Sun: ‘There is no other judge. I created it. They are either dead or have been sacked.’
Len died in April 2023 from bone cancer just six months into his retirement and one day before his 79th birthday.
The pair appeared on the show together for a whopping 12-years, meanwhile Dame Arlene, 81, was famously axed in 2009 after five years and replaced by Alesha Dixon, 46.
Craig admitted to the publication that he was slamming the pair in a bid to sell tickets for his new UK tour, Revelations: Songs Boys Don’t Sing.
Adding: ‘I get booed heavily but I enjoy playing the villain.’
During a May 2023 This Morning interview, a tearful Craig discussed the shock of losing two of his friends, Len and Paul O’Grady, within weeks of each other.
He recalled some sweet moments he had shared with them both and spoke of his grief and said he was starring as Miss Hannigan in a new stage production of Annie, a role that he previously shared with Paul.
The TV personality passed away ‘unexpectedly but peacefully’ in March 2024, aged 67, with his partner announcing the news just before 3am.
Speaking about the death of Paul, Craig admitted that he found it ‘hard to breathe’ as he reflected on the last words he heard him say.
Craig continued: ‘It was after Edinburgh, he said his goodbyes and how much he was enjoying doing it.
‘He did two weeks of the run and then we were to share the role out and suddenly we had the news that he’d passed and no one could really believe it. He said in Edinburgh “I’ll see you all in Southampton.”‘
He was full of praise for his own talents and put the BBC show’s successes down to himself, in the process also writing off current co-stars Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse
‘When I turned up for my week, we then of course dedicated all the performances that week to Paul. It was a shock for the company, it was a shock for all of us.
‘We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we had to get on with the show… as they say the show must go on, but it was really emotional. It was really hard to breathe and to get through because we were all in that state of panic and shock.’
Remembering some recent moments that they shared, Craig said: ‘He said that my Miss Hannigan was very glamorous and that his was very downtrodden! He was just absolutely brilliant. So funny. He was much loved and is missed.
Craig also spoke of his other friend and fellow Strictly judge Len, he said: ‘It was a double whammy… it really hit me.’
Len died at a hospice in Tunbridge Wells following a short battle with bone cancer, Craig said: ‘I didn’t even know he was ill, so it was a huge shock for me and I know he wanted to keep it quiet… but a brilliant brilliant man who brought ballroom back to the world. He was fantastic.’
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