Craig Revel Horwood has spoken out about accusations that each week’s Strictly Come Dancing results are “fixed”, insisting it is “impossible”.
Last month, under a headline about a “Strictly fix row”, The Sun highlighted that of the past 18 Strictly winners, eight of them have been BBC stars prior to signing up, including Stacey Dooley, Ore Oduba and original winner Natasha Kaplinsky.
The BBC quickly dismissed the story, rubbishing the claims outright and insisted that the “winner of Strictly is decided by the public vote” alone.
That hasn’t stopped many viewers also accusing the show of being “fixed” each week.
But Craig - who judges the show with Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke - has broken down why that isn’t true.
“It’s sort of impossible and I can tell you why,” he told The Mirror.
“We have to vote personally on a keypad, and we have to push that keypad within seven seconds of the dance finishing and we can’t change our minds.
“Once we’ve chosen a mark, that is it and we don’t know what the other judges are choosing until it’s too late.
“Not until we get our paddles ready to vote do I know what everyone has voted.
“Because I have given fours when other people have given nines! So I go, ‘Wow!’ So I’m as shocked as everybody else because it’s their own personal opinion and no one can change it. So once I’ve done it, it’s too late.”
However, Craig did admit that he has accidentally pressed the wrong number in the past - but not during a live show.
“That has happened on tour,” he admitted. “The four is next to the seven and I wanted to give a four but a seven showed up on the keypad and I went, ‘Oh.’ But I was on tour so I just went, ‘Oh, erm, OK!’ So then I had to go with a seven so I chose to say all the positive things rather than the negatives.
“But that’s only ever happened once and that happened on tour, which was a bit alarming. Yeah, you’ve got to be careful where the finger goes, darling! You have to be quite specific. Thankfully it didn’t happen on live TV - that would be a nightmare.”
Earlier this week, BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker once again found himself having to fend off criticism from viewers after managing to last another week without landing in the dance-off.
Dan and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova have landed enough support from the public to have avoided being in the bottom two every single week, which has led some viewers to accuse the show of being rigged.
However, Dan made it clear he wasn’t going to allow their comments to get him down, tweeting after the show: “Thank you to everyone who is sending lovely messages and enjoying us having fun on Strictly...
“And to the few who say… ‘Just leave’, ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’, ‘You’re a disgrace’, ‘It’s a fix’ (which I don’t get) or ‘Who is voting for them?’... IT’S A TV SHOW!”
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday night at 6.40pm on BBC One.
Last month, under a headline about a “Strictly fix row”, The Sun highlighted that of the past 18 Strictly winners, eight of them have been BBC stars prior to signing up, including Stacey Dooley, Ore Oduba and original winner Natasha Kaplinsky.
The BBC quickly dismissed the story, rubbishing the claims outright and insisted that the “winner of Strictly is decided by the public vote” alone.
That hasn’t stopped many viewers also accusing the show of being “fixed” each week.
But Craig - who judges the show with Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke - has broken down why that isn’t true.
“It’s sort of impossible and I can tell you why,” he told The Mirror.
“We have to vote personally on a keypad, and we have to push that keypad within seven seconds of the dance finishing and we can’t change our minds.
“Once we’ve chosen a mark, that is it and we don’t know what the other judges are choosing until it’s too late.
“Not until we get our paddles ready to vote do I know what everyone has voted.
“Because I have given fours when other people have given nines! So I go, ‘Wow!’ So I’m as shocked as everybody else because it’s their own personal opinion and no one can change it. So once I’ve done it, it’s too late.”
However, Craig did admit that he has accidentally pressed the wrong number in the past - but not during a live show.
“That has happened on tour,” he admitted. “The four is next to the seven and I wanted to give a four but a seven showed up on the keypad and I went, ‘Oh.’ But I was on tour so I just went, ‘Oh, erm, OK!’ So then I had to go with a seven so I chose to say all the positive things rather than the negatives.
“But that’s only ever happened once and that happened on tour, which was a bit alarming. Yeah, you’ve got to be careful where the finger goes, darling! You have to be quite specific. Thankfully it didn’t happen on live TV - that would be a nightmare.”
Earlier this week, BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker once again found himself having to fend off criticism from viewers after managing to last another week without landing in the dance-off.
Dan and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova have landed enough support from the public to have avoided being in the bottom two every single week, which has led some viewers to accuse the show of being rigged.
However, Dan made it clear he wasn’t going to allow their comments to get him down, tweeting after the show: “Thank you to everyone who is sending lovely messages and enjoying us having fun on Strictly...
“And to the few who say… ‘Just leave’, ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’, ‘You’re a disgrace’, ‘It’s a fix’ (which I don’t get) or ‘Who is voting for them?’... IT’S A TV SHOW!”
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday night at 6.40pm on BBC One.
