'If you’re that worried about it, vote!' Strictly's Craig Revel Horwood addresses fix claims as he blames viewers for Catherine Tyldesley's axe
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has insisted viewers are to blame for Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe's exit, amid claims saved contestant Mike Bushell avoided the axe due to his job as a BBC Breakfast host.
During an appearance on Monday's edition of Heart Breakfast, the outspoken choreographer, 54, didn't hold back sharing his thoughts on the soap star's controversial departure as he told fans: 'If you’re that worried about it, vote!'
Sunday's show sparked outrage as fellow panellist Shirley Ballas cast the deciding vote to save Mike, 53, and Katya Jones over Catherine, 36, and pro dancer Johannes, 32, which led the presenter to receive 'painful and shocking abuse' from trolls as a result of the judge's decision.
'If you’re that worried about it, vote!' Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood has insisted viewers are to blame for Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe's exit
When asked by hosts Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston whether he thought the worst dancer was eliminated, Australian dancer Craig explained: 'I don’t think that’s the question. For us the judges, we have to judge the dance off only, not what happened previously or what is to become.'
The media personality continued to defend pal Shirley, 59, as he elaborated: 'You can only judge what you see in that one minute thirty, and in my opinion, Mike had the cleaner dance.
'It’s quite simple and you know if it was another day or if Catherine was doing a rumba for instance, against his tango, then she would have won it. But you know it’s what happens on the day.'
Bold: During an appearance on Monday's edition of Heart Breakfast, the outspoken choreographer, 54, didn't hold back sharing his thoughts
Oh dear: The competition show has been hit by fix claims Mike Bushell (pictured with pro partner Katya Jones) avoided the axe due to his job as a BBC Breakfast host
Quizzing the media personality further, presenter Jamie, 48, asked: 'There is normally unanimity amongst judges when it comes to dance offs, would that be fair to say?'
'Well there has been and this is the first time that it’s been split, this year actually', Craig reasoned. 'In previous years it’s been split a lot. Opinion is always split. People are very equal in talent and ability you know.'
Speaking about the celebrity line-up's impressive talent, the Latin dancing pro said: 'At the moment I think on Strictly its becoming obvious that there are people that are really becoming fantastic and they’re leaving some of the rest behind so it’s quite split in that way.
Difficult judgment: 'You can only judge what you see in that one minute thirty', the stage performer insisted
'Everyone is fantastic': The Latin dancing pro spoke about the celebrity line-up's impressive talent
'But we always do get the dilemma of two really good ones being in the bottom two. And you have to remember that it’s the audience at home that are putting them in the bottom two as well.'
The Nativity Rocks! star went on to insist viewers are just as to blame as the panel - which consists of Craig, Shirley, Bruno Tonioli and new judge Motsi Mabuse.
In his typical candid fashion, he hit out: 'It’s not just the judges, we have 50% of the vote so I blame the people that aren’t voting.
'You can ask, they’ll all whinge online and be abusive and then you ask them "did you vote?" and they say "oh no I didn’t vote"... so if you’re that worried about it, vote!'
Reiterating his opinion on Monday's This Morning, Craig added: 'It’s now even Stevens – everyone is so good. It’s now up to the audience to start voting to make sure people aren’t in the bottom two'
'We only have 50% of the vote': The Nativity Rocks! star went on to insist viewers are just as to blame as the panel - which consists of Craig, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli
Reiterating his opinion on Monday's This Morning, Craig added: 'It’s now even Stevens – everyone is so good. It’s now up to the audience to start voting to make sure people aren’t in the bottom two.
'Catherine leaving seems to be great controversy – but it’s not, it was the right decision. You never know what dance you’re going to get or who the audience are going to vote for.
On the backlash Mike has received, the TV star said: 'Trolling on Twitter is crazy... people self-publishing on Twitter should not be self-publishing. It's often disgusting, terrible! He is in a competition, his tango was better, that’s the end of it.'
Scarborough actress Catherine and South African pro Johannes performed their Cha Cha as they were sent home at the end of the show's Halloween Week, after scraping the bottom of the leaderboard with a score of 24 out of a possible 40.
Moving on: On Monday, host Mike and his wife Emily (pictured earlier this year) hit back at trolls on Twitter who slammed the BBC Breakfast host after he was saved
On Monday, host Mike and his wife Emily hit back at trolls on Twitter who slammed the BBC Breakfast presenter after he was saved.
The TV star was told to 'f**k off' by vicious viewers of the ballroom show, with others branding it 'a fix', given that Mike is a BBC employee.
The barrage of abuse endured by the father-of-three including tweets such as: 'That strictly decision was the biggest fix ever, just because Mike is a BBC employee.'
On Monday's edition of BBC Breakfast, Mike said: 'It's an entertainment show, we're all trying our best, you're not really competing against anybody else, you compete against yourself to try and learn to get better and better each week, even if its just learning a couple of new steps.
Biting back: 'Wow the abuse! Painful. We’re beyond gutted Catherine and Johannes have left but Mike danced well and deserves his spot,' Emily tweeted
'As a non-dancer all I can do is put the hours in, do my best and get through it. You have to rise above the abuse on social media, that's one of the sad things about social media.
'All you can do is do your best, accept the judges' decision and move on. Johannes and Catherine are lovely people, I didn't want to see them go but someone has to go.
'It's like football - you have to accept the referee's decision. [The judges] are the best judges in the world, they do know what they're talking about, if they'd sent me home that would have been the best decision, I can't get involved in any of that.
'I just have to concentrate on improving, and if Katya is happy with what I'm doing then I'm happy.'
Elsewhere on This Morning, Craig - who is also a stage performer - reflected on losing his 'abusive' father to alcohol poisoning while he was on the road for musical Annie in December 2015.
The Victoria native told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: 'He was an alcoholic and an abusive one. My relationship with my father wasn’t good and it progressively got worse. I only saw him once a year and every time was worse and worse.
'Just to pay homage to him, I got through by singing My Way [Frank Sinatra's 1969 single] and devoted it to him. I sang it on Skype at the funeral.
'You see someone who has been abusive and had the disease being laid to rest and its overwhelmingly joyful... out of misery and pain now.'
'All you can do is your best': The presenter appeared on BBC Breakfast to defend himself, already at rehearsals for his next dance
