Strictly Come Dancing star Craig Revel Horwood furiously hit back at a troll on Twitter on Thursday after they slammed his behaviour at a theatre show.
The outspoken judge, 58, responded to the user’s claim that he was ‘unfriendly’ when they met him at The SpongeBob Musical.
The troll tweeted: ‘Just met you in the lobby going to see Spongebob Squarepants. You really couldn’t care less for your fans. Could have been more friendly at least.’
But Craig hit back, insisting he posted for snaps with a slew of snaps with fans following the musical.
Responded to the tweet, Craig wrote: ‘Hi Lynette, I’m sorry you feel that way. I stopped, talked and had photos with at least 30 people at interval. Hope you enjoyed the show darling!’
Brutal! Strictly Come Dancing star Craig Revel Horwood furiously hit back at a troll on Twitter on Thursday after they slammed his behaviour at a theatre show
Raging: The outspoken judge responded to the user’s claim that he was ‘unfriendly’ when they met him at The SpongeBob Musical
It comes after Strictly Come Dancing was thrown into chaos as the show’s professional dancers have now slammed the judges for demanding a huge pay rise.
Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke are allegedly looking to receive an 11 per cent salary rise ahead of the BBC dance competition show’s new season.
Head judge Shirley is reportedly already earning £500,000, Motsi and Craig rake in £200,000, while Anton is believed to be on £180,000.
But despite training for long hours, the dancers – who include Giovanni Pernice, Dianne Buswell and Johannes Radebe – are paid flat fees of around £35,000 for their work on the programme.
The dancers have now apparently taken to their group chat on WhatsApp in the wake of the news to slam the judges and are also considering asking for a pay rise.
An insider told The Sun: ‘The pros are seething. They work their a***s off for three months of the year, while the judges swan in on a Saturday, watch some nice dancing and air their thoughts.
‘A few of the dancers mooted the idea of staging their own protest.
‘But they are well aware there’s a cost of living crisis and they all love and are appreciative of their jobs.’
Angry: Craig hit back, insisting he posted for snaps with a slew of snaps with fans following the musical in Birmingham
How much? It comes after Strictly Come Dancing was thrown into chaos as the show’s professional dancers have now slammed the judges for demanding a huge pay rise
BBC bosses are also ‘incandescent with anger’ after the demand for a salary increase.
According to a report from The Sun on Wednesday, the BBC is ‘holding firm’ against the judges and the pay row means the two groups are allegedly at an impasse.
A BBC source told the Daily Mail: ‘While there is always some negotiation that goes on when new contracts are signed each year, this is something else.
‘Their jobs are some of the very best on television and they are already very well remunerated for their work so when these negotiations began this time around, there was shock and anger.
‘It is also not like they spend any other time working behind the scenes like the professional dancers. They turn up, get their make up done and go in front of the camera.
‘The professional dancers work tirelessly for weeks on end and they work themselves to the bone for the smidgen of what the judges already earn, let alone what they want to earn.
‘You would think that they would be aware that they work for the BBC and that they are essentially paid for by the British public through the licence fee.’
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke, and BBC spokespeople for further comment.
This comes after Shirley was reportedly given a ‘take it or leave it’ deal by Strictly bosses to stay on the show, after she revealed she may quit over online trolling.
The head judge and Latin expert was subjected to much criticism last year in which trolls slammed her decisions and accused her of ageism and sexism.
But despite previously threatening to quit, Shirley has been in talks with bosses over a potential return to Strictly, revealing on the Jonathan Ross show on Sunday that ‘their people are talking to my people’.
Shirley joined the judging panel as head judge in 2017, following the departure of Len Goodman.
The ‘Queen of Latin’ has reportedly been offered a raise in line with her fellow judges Craig, Motsi and Anton.
A TV insider told The Sun: ‘The team on the show care very deeply about Shirley’s wellbeing and will continue to do whatever they can to alleviate the effects of what’s said on social media.
‘But they are also very conscious that we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis and a licence fee freeze and it’s against this whole backdrop that the deal has been put to Shirley.
‘Nobody wants her to walk, but Strictly has proved throughout its history that no one is bigger than the show.’
Shirley recently hinted that she may not return to Strictly Come Dancing this year following the torrent of vile online abuse she received during the last series.
Not impressed: BBC bosses argue the stars are able to earn huge sums of money outside of the show, thanks to the massive platform their appearance on Strictly provides
In a candid interview, she indicated the previous series may have been her last as she’d hit an ‘all-time low’ after the abuse ‘snowballed out of control’.
The ballroom dancer told how she was constantly left in tears after every show and struggled in silence, telling how it was ‘the most negativity’ she had ever faced.
She told the Mirror: ‘Last year I was struggling. It wasn’t just a little bit, it was a lot – the majority of it was in silence. I felt the abuse snowballed out of control and impacted me in such a negative way. I’m a pretty stoic person, and I tend to hold everything in.’
She explained that when the abuse began, it seemed ‘larger than anything else’, with the star telling how it left her ‘crying and emotional’, while she was ’embarrassed’ about how she felt and didn’t confide in anyone.
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