As Strictly Come Dancing’s longest-standing judge, Craig Revel Horwood has high standards when it comes to dance talent. Luckily, the class of 2024 have it in spades.
After two decades on the show, Craig, 59, is now putting his own talent on display with the release of his debut album Revelations: Songs Boys Don’t Sing.
Closer caught up with Craig to talk Strictly, singing, and why his wedding to Jonathan Myring has been delayed for a third time.
Hi Craig! The competition has been such a high standard this year – it’s all to play for!
Every year surprises me. You always think, oh, it'll never be as good as last year, but it's the casting that really makes it.
And Blackpool Week is just around the corner…
Everyone's main ambition is to get to Blackpool. Once they've got to Blackpool, their main ambition is to win it, because they think they can. They get hungrier, and then the competition really hots up.
Who’s impressed you the most this year?
Well, Tasha [Ghouri] is absolutely amazing. Every dance she's done has been incredible – whether she'll win or not is another thing. But I think Chris [McCausland] is doing really well, too. Very surprising. I didn't think he would have as much rhythm as he has, and he's great. I think he'll be a finalist, I think Tasha will be a finalist. And I love Montel [Douglas] as well. She's wonderful.
You’ve not given a 10 yet. Are you deliberately holding out?
No dance is worthy of a 10 yet in my eyes. If something came along on the first night and it was a 10, it would be a 10, because you can't go back; they never get to do that dance again. I'm always judging it, thinking, is it a 10? Is it perfect in my eyes? And nothing has been so far.
You and Jonathan got engaged in 2020 but recently postponed your wedding again until 2027. Why the wait?
I mean, we were trying to do it within a year, but that was impossible, because Covid had just finished. People who had postponed their weddings were taking up all the marquees so we couldn't get a marquee anyway for two years, it was preposterous! Then, of course, we decided to renovate before getting married. It's a money thing, because everything is so expensive. I said, ‘I think it'll be better to get the house done before walking down the aisle.’
Has the planning been postponed too, or are you slowly working on that?
Slowly working away at it, although we've had to keep pulling people off that we'd employed. They kept ringing up saying, 'So when is the actual wedding?'
Will you sing at your own wedding?
Probably, yes. Yeah, because Jonathan's learning to sing now.
Have you planned a duet already?
I don't know. That’s going to be a tough one, because he likes Celtic folk music and stuff like that, and I'm brassy!
You can make a new genre!
[Laughs] It is a bit weird, yeah. But it's good fun!