Yahoo News Strictly's Craig Revel Horwood says he hopes "standards don't drop this year"
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has said that he hopes to continue to see a high standard of dancing in this year's series, suggesting that professional dancers may need to be "quite strict" at times.
The BBC show, which is due to return next month with its 22nd series, has come under fire in recent months following the departures of dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima, both of whom are not involved in this year's series following allegations of misconduct in the workplace.
The BBC has since implemented several changes to the production, including welfare officers being made available for both the professionals and celebrities.
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Now Horwood - who has been on the show since it first began in 2004 - has shared that he hopes to continue to see a high quality of performance in this year's series.
"I hope the standards don't drop this year," he told The Sun. "When I'm teaching casts for shows in rehearsals, I still have to be quite strict. I think you have to be. Can you imagine an Olympian getting gold with his or her trainer not being strict?
"As far as saying, 'Oh, that was really bad, you need to try it again', I'm not gonna cry over that. You just have to be able to take some criticism. Otherwise, we're living in a world where no one is criticised, and it will become watered down and vanilla, where no one's trying."
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The judge suggested that he "never would have made it without criticism", saying, "If my teachers hadn't told me my arms were terrible, way too loose and wild and out of control, I would still be wild and out of control.
"My Russian ballet teacher was always touching my hamstrings. That happened to everyone, to make you work from the hamstring up."
He added, "It's a really simple way of doing it, but if you do that in a Strictly class, you'll be sued."
Horwood has previously called the Strictly allegations "a shock", saying that he "wouldn't want anything to jeopardise" the show.
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Pernice has denied any wrongdoing during his time as a Strictly professional, saying in a statement: "I have always rejected any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour. The latest accusations are simply false."
Di Prima, meanwhile, released a statement following his exit in which he said: "I deeply regret the events that led to my departure from Strictly. My intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime."
The dancer's spokesperson Mark Borkowski later said that Di Prima had "made a mistake" when he kicked his celebrity partner Zara McDermott in 2023.
"There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that, is right. And he knows that. He knows he's made a mistake. He apologised at the time," he said.
Strictly Come Dancing will return later this year on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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