EXCLUSIVE: Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood says nobody comes close to the late head judge and his iconic catchphrases as he pays tribute to his late friend
Craig quipped that Shirley cant match Len’s iconic stint on the show(Image: PA)
Ten years after the late Len Goodman waltzed away from Strictly Come Dancing, Craig Revel Horwood says Shirley Ballas could never match his iconic catchphrases.
The Strictly judge has joked that a decade on, current head judge Ballas has failed to recreate the magic of Len Goodman’s legendary one-liners, insisting the late head judge was simply irreplaceable.
Goodman left Strictly in 2016 after serving as head judge for 12 years, saying that, as he’d reached his 70s, it was the right time to hand over the baton, with Ballas taking the top job. Speaking at the unveiling of a tribute sculpture to the legendary judge at the Goodman Dance Academy in Dartford, Craig paid emotional tribute to his former colleague, saying Len’s quick wit and unforgettable catchphrases were a huge part of what made him the heart of the BBC ballroom show.
‘For me, he was Strictly Come Dancing. His sayings… ‘A ten from Len’ was a huge one. Shirley has tried to replicate that one, but sadly, she failed.”
Craig’s tongue-in-cheek remark drew laughs before he returned to praising his late friend, who died after a battle with cancer in 2023, aged 78, calling the tribute sculpture “absolutely phenomenal” and joking: “I want something exactly the same for me when I go. Will you think about it?”
He also paid tribute to their genuine off-screen friendship, saying viewers only ever saw one side of their famously fiery relationship. ‘I loved Len. If you looked at the TV we were constantly fighting like cat and dog, but as soon as we came off stage we’d have a pally drink together,’ Craig said.
‘We toured together, so I was stuck in a car with Len for hours and hours while he got out to look at another building, darling.’ The judge also revealed how Len helped him overcome his biggest fear when he first joined Strictly. ‘I am now the age Len was when he started Strictly. There was twenty years difference between us. I’ll let you into a little secret – when I started I was having nightmares because I didn’t know ballroom and Latin.”
Craig explained that, despite being a choreographer and classically trained dancer, he asked Len if he could secretly learn the finer points at the Goodman Dance Academy.
‘He paired me with his lovely wife Sue in the room above where he was screaming at me from his platform, ‘No, no, that’s the change step, darling!’ He was hilarious and I totally loved him.’
Growing emotional, Craig added: “I miss him from the bottom of my heart. Whenever I hear the Strictly theme music, I always think of Len Goodman and Bruce Forsyth.
‘Because Len created Strictly. Without Len, I don’t think the show would have survived. He was a master at his craft. He was a comedian.’
As for the new series, Craig says the BBC has pulled out the stops: ‘I love Emma Willis, she is a master presenter, she’s insanely good, Josh Widdicombe will be a good counterpart to that and he’ll be giving me what for, because no ones really been answering me back of late and Jojo will be fantastic, he’s been through it, he has compassion, he has everything, all the things I don’t have, I am so glad he’s still on the show.’
Despite starring on the show for more than twenty years, Revel Horwood says he has no plans ever to leave Strictly. ‘They’ll have to drag me by whatever hair I have left, kicking and screaming, I love it, it’s become a big part of my life now. It’s the best Saturday job ever.’
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