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| I'm so horrid even Mum hates me! |
| Written by Administrator | |
| Saturday, 21 October 2006 | |
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His catty comments, personal put-downs and icy insults have reduced celebs to tears - no wonder Craig Revel Horwood is rivalling Simon Cowell for the crown of TV's Mr Nasty.
In fact, the Strictly Come Dancing judge is so vile to the show's hapless contestants that even his own mother can't bear to watch him. "My mum disowns me every time she sees the show," admits Craig, 38. "She loves the programme but she absolutely hates me on it. She doesn't recognise me." She is not alone. Fans of the hit Saturday night show - which tonight enters the third week of its fourth series - have also been enraged by Craig's acid tongue. "Supermarkets are the worst," he says. "I get people coming up to me when I'm doing my shopping and telling me off. 'Why are you so horrible?' they say. "I tell them I'm only being honest. I just get angry when people aren't putting the work in. It's got to be competitive otherwise the show doesn't work." Last Saturday, Craig had Casualty star Georgina Bouzova in tears after branding her rumba "absolutely awful". But does he feel guilty? Not a chance. "I didn't feel bad in the least," he smirks. "Georgie has to learn to take some criticism. I want to spur her on to greater things, I don't want her to come out tonight and embarrass herself again. "She came out completely s****ing herself and ended up looking like a plank of wood. She needed a kick up the a*** and I hope I gave her that. "I know she broke down crying, but there's always a vote in a tear, isn't there? And Georgina is an actress, after all." Miaow.. Still, Craig did have a sympathetic word in her ear once the cameras stopped rolling. So maybe he does have a heart after all... "I told her not to take it so personally," he says. "She accepted that she had to put more work in and that I didn't have a vendetta against her. "But without people like Georgina, who can't dance for toffee, the programme wouldn't be great. "I hope she comes back stronger tonight. For her sake more than anything Georgina wasn't the only celebrity to have her feathers ruffled. Singer Mica Paris, who was booted off last week, was said to be fuming after Craig declared her rumba left him "stone cold". He says: "I was actually surprised to see her go. "Although there were a lot of terrible things about her rumba, she did have lovely arms and a bit of hip action. Well, a little bit. "However, she is a big lady. People of all shapes and sizes can dance, but Mica had a lot to heave around the dancefloor." Craig also offended rugby ace Matt Dawson. "Dull, dull, dull - the most boring routine I've seen in ages," was his verdict on Matt's cha cha cha. Matt hit back calling Craig a "top man", adding: "Not you, your suit." Since then the pair have barely spoken. "He was out of order coming back at me like that," says Craig. "He's extremely frosty with me backstage and I don't like his arrogance. "He needs to get to grips with the fact that it's for charity and lighten up." He might have a harsh way with words, but as an established choreographer and theatre director with two decades in the business under his belt, Craig knows what he's talking about. He quit his native Australia for London 18 years ago, lured by the career opportunities in the city's West End. Since then he has worked on such hit shows as West Side Story, Miss Saigon and Hot Mikado. As well as Strictly Come Dancing he is currently working on Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks. It opens at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket next month and stars Billy Zane and Claire Bloom. In the last series, ex-EastEnder Patsy Palmer dared to question Craig's judging credentials - so he called her a "scrubber in a puffa jacket, a two-bit actress in a second-rate soap". It's the one comment he now regrets, saying: "Maybe I took it a bit far that time. But if Patsy had done her research and Googled me she would have seen my experience." Of the latest contestants, Craig hopes to see more of Claire King and Brendan Cole, whose raunchy rumba he described as "absolute filth". He says: "The pair of them are simply oozing sex and it's spilling out all over the floor. AND Carol Smillie surprised me with her quickstep. But I don't hold out much hope for her jive tonight - she's too tall and lanky to be a jiver." He reckons DJ Spoony, cricketer Mark Ramprakash and former Corrie star Ray Fearon all have potential. But, for him, there's only one winner. "No one is going to touch Emma Bunton," he says. "She is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. Louisa Lytton might run her close, but Emma is just brilliant. I love her." He also relishes the ratings battle with ITV1's X Factor - calling it "contrived and boring" compared to the "fresh" Strictly Come Dancing - and longs to topple his rival Mr Nasty, Simon Cowell. And although he is enjoying being footloose and fancy-free after his recent split from Lloyd, his partner of 15 years, a certain dancer on the show could totally change his life. "Ola Jordan is breathtakingly beautiful - I'm actually thinking of turning straight," says Craig. "Ola's having that effect on me. She's amazing!" Strictly Come Dancing is on tonight on BBC1 at 5.45pm and 9.35pm. MR NASTY vs MR NASTY COWELL BEST PUT-DOWNS: "It's like the outpatients of an insane asylum sometimes. You just think, is this a joke?" (On X Factor hopefuls) "You say you've got a singing teacher. Have you got a lawyer? Get your lawyer to sue the teacher." (On American Idol) "My advice, if you want to pursue a music career? Don't!" (On X Factor) ON BEING BITCHY: "You can either patronise them or tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth is perceived as mean." ON CRAIG: "I'm confident X Factor will come out on top." REVEL HORWOOD BEST PUT-DOWNS: "The most redundant rumba I've ever seen." (To James Martin, series three) "It's meant to be the dance of love, but that seemed like the dance of desperation." (To Esther Rantzen, series two) "Chunky, lumpy, really nasty hands. It's about personality, of which we didn't see any." (To Darren Gough, series three) ON BEING A BITCH: "I want to encourage people to do better." ON SIMON: "It's offensive that people think I'm like Simon in any shape or form. And thank God I don't look like him or have his dress sense." Source |
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