Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Ola Jordan has suggested that Craig Revel Horwood has lost his sparkle – and that he should be replaced by a new judge who has “more spice”.
The dancer, who appeared in the BBC dancing competition from 2006 to 2015, has said that the judge has become “too nicey nicey”.
Revel Horwood, who has developed a reputation for being the pantomime villain of the series over its 20 years, has recently toned down his brutal judging style in favour of a friendlier approach.
Speaking in a new interview, Jordan said: “I feel like Craig’s lost his sparkle. People loved Craig for what he was before.”
“He would say it as it is, saying [who] wasn’t good, that was rubbish, but it’s almost like he’s got to say a positive now. He’s obviously been told they’ve got to be positive and that they don’t want any negativity in the show and that comes from producers, but they need to look at what the public wants really. It’s too nicey nicey.”
She added that they need a new judge on the series, someone “with a bit more spice”.
“You could even have a different guest judge every week,” she told Mecca Bingo.
Horwood recently admitted he changed his judging style over concerns he would be cancelled.
The judge, who worked on every series of the show since it began in 2004, looked back on being “really harsh 20 years ago”.
“I have changed my style of judging,” he told Radio Times. “When I look back, I think, ‘Ooh, that’s cutting.’ It would now be classed as bullying, and then I’d be cancelled.”
Revel Horwood’s most brutal remarks in the past include the judge telling Ann Widdecombe in 2010 that she was a “dancing hippo”, telling broadcaster Jeremy Vine that he danced “like a stork that had been struck by lightning” and informed former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that she “limped about like you were lost at a party somewhere drunk”.
During one awkward interaction, he told Anton Du Beke, who previously danced as a pro on the series, that he had “awful fake teeth” – before realising they were his real teeth.
The judge has changed his tune on the most recent series, which was won by comedian Chris McCausland on Saturday (14 December), as he become friendlier towards the contestants.
During Saturday’s final, Revel Horwood was so overcome with adoration for McCausland that he dedicated a poem to the stand-up comedian and hugged him, which viewers said was the “nicest” thing the judge has ever done on the series.
