Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood ‘confronted’ by BBC’s Naga Munchetty in backstage clash
STRICTLY COME DANCING judge Craig Revel Horwood has revealed he was confronted by ex contestant and BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty about his comments towards her when she appeared on the BBC show in 2016.
Naga Munchetty goes full Tina Turner with racy long curls
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, 53, claimed Naga Munchetty, 43, came up to him backstage and asked him why he was “awful” to her.
In a self-written article with the Daily Mail, Craig divulged: “Presenter Naga Munchetty was always coming up to me at the bar during series 14, saying: ‘Craig, why do you always have to be so awful?’
“‘Because your dancing’s awful, darling,’ I told her."
He added: “I said: ‘It’s not my fault. If your dancing was better, I’d be kinder, but don’t you want to know what’s going wrong?’”
Craig, why do you always have to be so awful?
Craig said she responded with: “You could do it in a nicer way, you don’t have to be so abrupt.”
He claimed he added: “Yes, I do. Sometimes I’ve only got ten seconds to speak — especially if Bruno has been rabbiting on!”
BBC Breakfast presenter Naga was a contestant on the show in 2016.
She was partnered up with Pasha Kovalev, 38, and was the fourth contestant to be voted off of the show.
Craig also told how Andy Murray’s mother Judy also approached him to confront him about his comments towards her in series 12.
The judge claimed the 59-year-old tennis coach said to him: “Do you have to be so nasty to me?”
Craig said he replied: “‘Well, just improve, darling,’ I would say, ‘and then I won’t be.’”
Express.co.uk has contacted a representative for Naga Munchetty and Judy Murray for a comment.
Craig insisted his harsh critique is all in “good humour”.
He added: “I need to tell them what they did wrong so that they get it right next week.
“Sometimes that means I have no time to add the positive.”
Naga Munchetty is voted out of Strictly Come Dancing
The veteran judge has appeared on the panel since the show’s first inception in 2004.
Following its fourteenth series in 2016, head judge Len Goodman, 74, left the show and was replaced by Shirley Ballas, 57, last year.
Admitting he didn’t want to replace Len, Craig Revel Horwood previously told Express.co.uk: “I don’t see myself as a mediator.
“The role as head judge... you have to be the mediator and I am who I am and love the job I do.
“I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I didn’t want the responsibility, I like where I am at the moment I think it’s good.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC this Saturday at 6:45pm.