Craig Revel Horwood reveals why he secretly loves X Factor

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has revealed a secret love for The X Factor.

As the two shows air together on TV on Saturday nights once more, Craig has admitted a soft spot for his reality telly rival.

And he’s even sent out a thank you to X Factor boss Simon Cowell for his hard work.

Craig explained: “I champion The X Factor, only in that it brings a lot of new talent to the fore.

“I use the people who have gone on that show; Diana Vickers in Son of A Preacher Man, and Alexandra Burke was in my Sister Act tour and absolutely fantastic.”

Speaking to OK! magazine, Craig added: “The show does the ground work and brings new stars for me to put in my musicals – so thank you very much, Simon Cowell!|”

Meanwhile, Craig has given his first reviews of the Strictly Come Dancing 2018 line up following the first week of live performances.

And there’s bad news for Susannah Constantine, who gave one of Strictly’s ‘worst EVER’ performances on Saturday night according to Craig.

At the bottom end of the leaderboard, Susannah and pro partner Anton du Beke left us with plenty to remember at the weekend with their Samba to Tico Tico by Carmen Miranda.

They scored only 12 points – with Craig awarding just ONE point – after a “car crash” routine.

Craig said this week: “I think the last time I gave someone a ‘one’ was nine years ago. So she’s broken my silence on my vow of never giving anyone a ‘one’.”

He told The Sun newspaper at the Best Heroes Awards: “Bless her I had to talk to her after the show and we just had a really good chat in the BBC bar about it just saying ‘look you’ve just got to relax and pull yourself together and try and get on with it, pick yourself up, forget that ever happened’.

“And hopefully, she’s got a ballroom dance next week and she’s in the ballroom master’s arms. She’s being looked after very very well.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns this Saturday night with the second live show.