‘I want Simon Cowell to join Strictly Come Dancing’ Judge Craig Revel Horwood has an offer the X Factor boss can’t refuse
And he's willing to return the favour by auditioning for X Factor with a Whitney Houston track
Craig Revel Horwood has just come up with a genius plan that will have Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor fans either cheering with excitement or recoiling in horror.
“Every year I try to get Simon Cowell on our show but I haven’t had any bites yet,” grins Craig, 51. “So this year I’m offering to do a swap. I’ll be a contestant on The X Factor if we get Simon on Strictly.
"I’d do The Greatest Love Of All in the key of D – a bit of Whitney Houston to rock ’em.”
X Factor boss Simon recently told TV Magazine there was “no money on earth” that would get him on Strictly, though he also admitted they’d never been cheeky enough to ask him.
It sounds to TV Magazine like a swap deal would be perfect for something like Children In Need. Over to you, Simon…
“Simon would be fantastic,” says Craig. “I think Strictly need to get in touch with him.”
For now, of course, the ballroom show’s most outspoken judge has got a full diary, as this year’s 15 celebrities prepare to unleash their first dances on Friday. Craig is delighted to say he thinks this lot could be the feistiest yet.
“There are a lot of people who are quite vocal this year,” he says. “Will Young’s not shy in standing up for himself, which is good. And neither is Lesley Joseph, Judge Rinder or Ed Balls. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
The sparring with barrister Robert Rinder has already begun. On launch night he pretended to ignore Craig while talking to Tess Daly, and is clearly ready to give as good as he gets.
“I have been watching him on Judge Rinder and he’s quite vicious, isn’t he?” laughs Craig. “He’s far more vicious than I’ve ever been on television. And that’s in court. It’s quite mad. So this should be fun.
“I’ve had a bit of a chat to him backstage and he’s very excitable. I know he really wants to impress me – but the proof is going to be in the pudding.
"I’ve only seen him wiggling his hips around like a maniac so far. But he’s not one to get beaten and I sort of like that about him. He’s very intelligent, not afraid to speak his mind and he’s prepared to put in the hard work.
"I know he’s asked for as many hours as possible in the day to rehearse with his partner [Oksana Platero].”
Following the announcement by head judge Len Goodman that this series will be his last after 14 years, does it feel different this time round for all the judges?
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“It adds something special to this year,” admits Craig. “Len has always been our cheeky chappie – almost like a stand-up comic. We were saying to him in the dressing room the other day: ‘Ooh, that was your last launch show.’ We will miss him, most definitely. But he’s doing the Strictly Live Tour next year, so we will have a farewell luncheon after that.”
There has already been much speculation about Len’s replacement as head judge when he hollers his last ‘Seven!’. Craig says we can count him out of the running. Would he not enjoy having the power of the casting vote?
“No, not really,” comes the typically honest reply. “It’s not in my nature. It would change the dynamic of who I am on the panel. It would be better to get someone brand new.
The BBC haven’t decided yet and they’re not going to until we’ve finished this series, which
I completely understand. I would go for someone from the Latin or Ballroom world that the public don’t know.
You have to remember that we were all unknown when we came on to the show and created our ‘characters’.
“With someone brand-new you would get a whole new opinion and a whole new person
to either love or hate. You sort of know what you’re going to get with Anton [Du Beke] or Brendan [Cole]. I judged with Brendan on the New Zealand version of Strictly and we were at loggerheads the whole time.”
This year’s launch-night show two weeks ago was up by 1.5 million viewers on 2015, so fans clearly love its winning fomula. Craig, however, isn’t so egotistical as to think the talent series couldn’t survive without him.
“Television is extremely fickle,” he says. “If it all comes to an end, it all comes to an end. You never know what’s around the corner or what opportunities are going to come your way.”
Would it be fair to say his is the easiest job on primetime telly? There’s no mentoring to
be done, unlike the X Factor judges. Craig chuckles.
“No, I don’t do any of that. I just go in there on a Saturday – I call it my Saturday job – watch a nice bit of dancing, comment on it and go home,” he says.
“I love that. Then I can get on with my real job, which is directing and choreographing. I’ve got Sister Act out on tour at the moment and it will be coming into the West End next year. And I’ve got a lot of new projects I’m working on as well.”
Craig reveals his admiration for pro dancer Aliona Vilani, who shocked a lot of Strictly fans when she announced she was quitting the show after raising last year’s glitterball trophy with The Wanted’s Jay McGuinness.
“It’s nice to leave on a high as champion,” he says. “Camilla Dallerup did the same thing [winning with Tom Chambers in series six]. She studied all the way through Strictly so she could become a life coach. Now she’s written books and she’s doing very, very well.
"It’s good to be a chameleon and change. A lot of people see it as: ‘That’s the death of my career.’ But it’s not. It’s the beginning. For the professional dancers, winning Strictly is the pinnacle. It’s like climbing Everest, but then you’ve done it.”