By Richard Barber
PUBLISHED: 00:37 GMT, 24 May 2013 | UPDATED: 08:42 GMT, 24 May 2013
With ten series of Strictly Come Dancing under his belt, Craig Revel Horwood’s catchphrases have passed into everyday use. Recently, he had the bright idea of turning Fab-u-LOUS! A-may-ZING! Chah-chah-chah! and DisAHstrous, dAHling! into ringtones.
But it’s not just for his own benefit — 50 per cent of the sales will go to the National Osteoporosis Society, of which he is a patron.
‘My mum’s got a bone disorder which has made her unable to dance any more’, he says. ‘She has rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, which are incurable and very painful.
Firm friends: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Craig Revel Horwood dance the cha-cha-cha Osteoporosis, on the other hand, is preventable as long as you’ve done some weight-bearing exercise up to the age of 23. That’s something you can achieve through dance.’
Which is how he came to strike up an unlikely friendship with the Duchess of Cornwall, the President of the National Osteoporosis Society who lost her mother to the disease.
In 2009, on National Osteoporosis Day, Camilla and Craig famously did an impromptu cha-cha at a London primary school. ‘I was teaching the children how to learn the steps and Camilla was showing great interest. So I asked if she’d like to dance.
‘I suggested a ballroom hold. But she was having none of it. “No,” she said, “I’d like to learn the cha-cha-cha”, somewhat imitating the way I say it. She’s a witty woman with a fantastic sense of humour. I could tell after a couple of steps that she’d obviously been practising. She’s also got natural rhythm.
Show time: Craig Revel Horwood with Darcey Bussell at the Northern Ballet's The Great Gatsby in London‘She told me she adored the show, so I invited her to come to rehearsals one Friday. She loved it. She knew every dancer’s name. Since then, we’ve done lots together for the Society. She sends me birthday and Christmas cards. The first time there was a special delivery from the palace, I thought it was my knighthood, dahling!’
Craig, Strictly Come Dancing’s favourite pantomime villain, is just back from a six-week trip to his native Australia, and is raring to go.
He’s thrown himself into the task of pulling together his new stage show, Strictly Confidential, which he’s written and is directing.
‘The idea,’ says Craig, ‘is to look inside the glitterball to see how Strictly works and to explore the journeys taken by the four principal dancers in my show, Lisa Riley, Artem Chigvintsev, Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite.
‘I interviewed them to find out about their life stories, the ups and downs of becoming dancers that had brought them to the point of being involved in Strictly. I then wrote an autobiographical arc for each of them. I was keen to construct a show that wasn’t just a series of demonstration dances.’
So it is that we’ll hear from former Emmerdale star Lisa, the only celebrity taking part who was in 2012’s Strictly, alongside three of the show’s professional dancers: Artem, Natalie and Ian and the struggles they had to overcome to achieve what they have today.
Lisa will talk about losing her beloved mother, Cath, to cancer just weeks before she started on Strictly. ‘Cath’s favourite song,’ says Craig, ‘was In My Daughter’s Eyes. Lisa will reveal how she coped going into a dance based on that song. It’s absolutely beautiful.’
Similarly, we’ll learn about Artem’s tough time growing up in Russia; about Ian confronting his sexuality; and how Natalie had to beat the odds to follow her dream. ‘I want to show how they’ve battled obstacles with courage, and that very often it’s through song and dance that they’ve found a way forward,’ Craig says.
‘I also want to take the audience backstage at Strictly to show the nerves that everyone feels before they dance in front of 14 million people. If it’s a success, it’s a format I can repeat year after year with an ever-changing line-up.’
Entertainer: Craig Revel Horwood is 'incapable of being dull' Spend any time with Craig, 48, and it quickly becomes clear that here is a man incapable of being dull. He fizzes with life and laughter, altogether a quite different creature from Craig Revel Horrid, the fearsome judge on Strictly.
Bruno Tonioli once told me that, off-screen, Craig is a pussycat, ‘the nicest man in the world,’ he said, and Lisa Riley says he’s like Play-Doh, ‘because he’s like putty in your hands’. ‘People are different away from work. But, when I’m judging, it’s my reputation that’s at stake,’ says Craig.
‘I’ve got ten seconds to deliver an opinion. It’s a serious business. Yes, I might sometimes seem harsh but I wouldn’t utter a word I didn’t believe was true. I like having fun with contestants but I’m not fake.’
What about those rumours that he wants to leave Strictly? ‘Nonsense,’ he says. ‘What I said, which was then widely misquoted, was that if they wanted to rest me from being a judge, I’d go quietly. But I don’t want that to happen. I’d never leave of my own accord. I love Strictly — I want to be a part of it as long as they’ll have me.’
Strictly has never been more successful, comfortably trouncing The X Factor in last year’s head-to-head. ‘I think I could save that show,’ says Craig, mischievously. ‘It’s become too big for its boots. People don’t believe it any more.
‘When it started, it had a heart. But now, it’s lost that heart. There are five ways in which it could be improved, five ways that would breathe new life into it.’
In the spirit: The Duchess of Cornwall giving her score with Craig Revel Horwood during a visit to the set of Strictly Come Dancing in 2011Such as? ‘If Simon was willing to pay me five million pounds — a million for each idea — I’d be only too happy to put him right.’ Not that Craig would let it interfere with his frenetic schedule. Away from work, he’s a keen cook, having reached the final of Celebrity MasterChef in 2007.
‘I was brought up in Ballarat, a country town in Victoria, and I was the only boy at my school who put his name down for Home Economics. I was teased because all the other boys had opted for metalwork and woodwork. I didn’t know who I was at that point. I certainly wasn’t aware of my sexuality.
‘I had a girlfriend at school, although all we did was kiss behind the sheds. I quite liked it, but I got excited by men, too. It was an odd sort of transition period.
‘My first sexual experience was with a guy. My second was with a girl called Deanne. We went out for a year and enjoyed a full physical relationship. I continued sleeping with women, and men, all through my 20s. It wasn’t until I fell in love the first time — with a bloke — that everything became clear.’
More recently, he enjoyed a five-year live-in relationship with Harley Street pharmacist, Grant MacPherson, 32, but incompatible lifestyles ultimately put paid to that in October 2011.
Ask him if he’s single now and he comes over uncharacteristically coy. ‘Not entirely,’ he says. ‘I’ve met someone new and I really, really like him. But I’m deliberately taking it slowly.
‘In the past, I’ve rushed too quickly into relationships and that’s where I’ve been getting it wrong. I’m also learning to love me rather than only loving someone else. In the past, I always wanted someone in my life I could lavish all my love on. But I forgot about me in the process.’
At work: Craig Revel Horwood with Darcey Bussell, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli on Strictly Come Dancing Craig is very happy at the moment, he says. ‘My love life is good. I know who I am. I know what I want. I have everything I could possibly need. My work is plentiful and stimulating. And, in the past two years, I’ve done all the things I’ve wanted to do for the longest time.’
He reels them off. ‘I passed my driving test and I’ve got my own car, a restored Triumph Stag bequeathed to me by my dear friend Amber, who, sadly, succumbed to cancer a couple of years ago. I’ve learned to scuba dive. And I’ve become a British citizen. Well, I’d been paying taxes here, and handsomely, for 24 years.’
In fact, he was lucky not to be put back on a plane to Oz. Because Craig is nursing a guilty secret.
‘It’s true,’ he says. ‘I was had up for not paying my TV licence. This was shortly after I moved here from Australia. I was sitting at home watching television when there was a knock at the door.
‘Two men invited themselves in, told me to turn off the TV and then fined me ?400. I tried saying I could only get two channels; everything else was snowy. And I didn’t know you needed a licence for a black and white set. But they were having none of it. DisAHster, dAHling!’
The Strictly Confidential tour begins in Plymouth on June 12 and finishes in Leeds on July 28. Call Ticketzone on 08444 99 99 55 or visit strictlyconfidentialtour.com
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