‘We HATED each other!’ Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood takes a swipe at sacked pro Brendan Cole for ‘showing off’ and sheds light on their feud
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has hit out at former show professional Brendan Cole.
Talent show panellist Craig, 56, and former star of the show Brendan, 45, clashed on the BBC ballroom dance contest before Brendan was given the boot in 2018.
Craig explained on Kate Thornton’s podcast White Wine Question Time: ‘We did lock horns. I invited him around two years ago to my house. I hadn’t spoken to him for years. I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to see Brendan, just to see if he’s working…”‘
Strictly war: Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, 56, has hit out at former show professional Brendan Cole, 45, after the pair fell out in 2018
Kate laughed: ‘What a b***h!’ Craig continued: ‘Oh god this is going out to people isn’t it? Anyway he had an electric car. He was showing off. We hated each other.’
Brendan was sacked from Strictly Come Dancing after he waltzed with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace.
BBC bosses and the Strictly judges were fuming after Brendan ignored a briefing and asked the royal to appear on a Christmas special of the show.
Craig was angry at the time that Brendan had taken it upon himself to pose the question.
Rule breaker: Brendan was sacked from Strictly Come Dancing after he waltzed with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace, angering BBC bosses and show judges
Strictly business: Craig explained on Kate Thornton’s podcast White Wine Question Time : ‘We did lock horns… we hated each other’
A source told The Sun at the time: ‘It was the last straw, they saw he couldn’t be controlled.’
Meanwhile, this year’s series has been a ratings hit so far, with an average audience of 8.2 million people, 48.5% share of the audience, tuning in on Saturday night.
The viewing figure for the BBC One celebrity dancing competition peaked at 8.8 million.
Speaking out: Craig was angry at the time that Brendan had taken it upon himself to pose the question of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall appearing on the Strictly Christmas special
While viewership is on the rise for the 2021 series, numbers remain down on last year’s show – which fell amid much stricter covid regulations – with numbers on the same second live show show hitting peak numbers of 10.7million in 2020.
BBC bosses will no doubt be thrilled to see the rise in ratings after a vaccination controversy has plagued the show in recent weeks while McFly star Tom Fletcher and his pro partner Amy Dowden have also been stricken with Covid.
The fall on last year has been attributed to socialising Brits heading out amid continued lightened lockdown rules.
Smash hit: This year’s series has been a ratings hit so far, with an average audience of 8.2 million people, 48.5% share of the audience, tuning in on Saturday night