Craig Revel Horwood Tells Ungrateful Strictly Pros ‘to Go And Work On Cats’ If They Strike Over £50,000 Salaries

Craig Revel Horwood just went full CRH sass on the Strictly Come Dancing professionals. Hinting that the dancers were ungrateful for their reported £50k salaries, the 53-year-old judge told the show’s pros to ‘try working on Cats for 200 quid a week.’ Earlier this year it was claimed that some of the show’s professional names were threatening to strike because judges earn up to £250,000, while the BBC pays the dancers a fifth of that fee per series. Slamming the attitude, Craig told The Sun on Wednesday: ‘This show puts them in the limelight. ‘If they are doing what they normally do, which is competitive dance up in Blackpool, there would be 500 people interested. There is 12 million people interested in this show.’
He added: ‘They have all got Twitter accounts and they are all making money on the side doing something else. I think, “Isn’t that enough?” Go and do Cats [The Musical] for 200 quid a week and then see how you feel.’ Some pros, including Anton Du Beke, Kevin Clifton and Oti Mabuse, have indeed become better known than their celebrity partners. But during their height of their four-month run every year, Strictly professionals are known to put in 10-hour days, choreographing and working with their celebrity partners.
It was therefore alleged in September that some dancers considered it a ‘joke’ for judges Craig, Shirley Ballas, Bruno Tonioli and Darcey Bussell ‘just turn up every week’. Nevertheless, the judges do face their fair share of criticism for their commentary on the dances. This week, viewers at home slammed the judges on social media for their comments towards Graeme Swann when they called it a ‘no brainer’ to send him home, over Ashley Roberts this weekend. Even former professional Brendan Cole had a dig about ‘overmarking’ for Joe Sugg and Diane Buswell, last week.