Ross King

Craig Revel Horwood nearly slipped and fell on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing as he attempted his favourite routine and fans at home flooded social media with their reaction

Craig Revel Horwood nearly slipped and fell on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing. The professional dancer, 60, was back in his seat on the judging panel alongside Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke where he had spent much of the evening dishing out his typically-acerbic critique to celebrities like Thomas Skinner, Vicky Pattison and Ross King.

Just before Balvinder Sopal, who is known to fans of BBC soap EastEnders for playing Suki Panesar on the long-running programme, took to the stage, Craig leapt out of his seat once it became apparent that his ‘favourite’ routine was about to be performed. The TV star is a huge fan of the Charletson, and excitedly skipped around in front of the cameras.

Tess Daly was just about to introduce Balvinder to the stage, and laughed as Craig excitedly performed a few seconds of the famous routine. But the move didn’t necessarily go down too well with viewers at home as they noticed straight away that he almost lost his footing.

READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing chaos as Stefan Dennis falls and Dianne Buswell catches himREAD MORE: Strictly Come Dancing viewers divided as La Voix makes savage dig towards at co-stars

One fan wrote on X: “Craig being iconic but also nearly slipping there,” whilst another said: “Craig nearly slipping lmfaoooo” A third simply asked: “What the hell was that Craig?” whilst a fourth said: “Thought i was about to watch Craig faceplant onto the floor there for a sec.” Another added: “What was that all about with Craig? Really cringe & annoying,get back in your box mate!”

Balvinder then took to the stage alongside her professional partner Julian Caillon to perform the dance, all set to Been Like This by Meghan Trainor. They received a score of 30, made up of two sevens and two eights.

But Craig’s dancing moment wasn’t the only thing fans issued a complaint over during the second live show of this year’s series. As soon as the programme began, viewers took issue with the fact that presenters Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly do not get their own introduction, even though the judges do.

One wrote: “Okay…..no intros for Tess and Claudia” and another said: “So Tess and Claudia don’t get introduced anymore” In agreement, a third viewer said: “I hate the way Tess and Claudia don’t get an intro now but the judges do!”

It was Amber Davies‘ night in the end, though, as the former Love Island winner and musical theatre star topped the leaderboard with a score of 56, when combining her scores from this week and the first week of the show.

To make things extra special for the West End actress, she celebrated her 29th birthday on Saturday and was surprised with a cake that came with a picture of her and her professional partner Kai Widdrington printed onto it. Just hours before the show, he surprised her with a large bouquet of flowers along with a Happy Birthday balloon.

The moment was captured on video, and Amber, who will star as Elle Woods in next year’s UK tour of Legally Blonde: The Musical, captioned the Instagram post saying: “Little me would never believe I would be celebrating my last birthday in my twenties on the Strictly ballroom dancefloor.”

She added: “Golden star for the most fab pro partner ever @nikita__kuzmin !!! He remembered guys best birthday EVER !!!! @bbcstrictly (he did infact say happy 40th birthday whilst handing me this gift..) Thank you so much for all the birthday love, time to celebrate with a SAMBAAAAA.”

And friends and family wasted no time in sending their best wishes to Amber. One person wrote: “Happy birthday beautiful!!! What a special day it’s going to be! The last year of your twenties is going to be the best

Meanwhile, It Takes Two’s roving reporter and former Strictly finalist Tasha Ghouri wrote: “Happy birthday lovely!! ” And Sue Davies, Amber’s mother, penned: “A very special birthday my girl love you so much .”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

But Judge Anton insisted it was not a problem as viewers always grow to love the line ups of long running BBC series

TV judge Anton Du Beke has admitted that he does not recognise many of the stars picked for Strictly Come Dancing these days. Echoing public criticism that the BBC dance show’s line-up can sometimes lack a little lustre or the big names of previous years, he admitted the first time he would see some of them could be on the ballroom.

Anton said: “When I first started, we sort of knew them, but now as you get older… there are a number of people on the show that I am not familiar with.” Speaking of last year’s model contestant Tasha Ghouri, he added: “I mean last year, Tasha? I did not know Tasha. No, I don’t know a number of people on the show.”

But he has got used to being a bit baffled, as more online personalities are introduced onto the show, explaining: “You don’t know who they are, but that is normal.”

He said of the 25-year-old YouTuber taking to the dancefloor for 2025: “There is that lovely boy George Clarke doing it this year. I thought it was the buildings fella, George Clarke the architect.”

And although he has now watched performances by the contestants who will be strutting their stuff on telly from this Saturday, he hasn’t seen enough to pick a winner.

Anton, 59, recalled how he was asked for an early opinion at the recording of the launch show and said: “They made it down the stairs unaided. I don’t know what you want me to say. Ask me next week when they have danced a bit.”

This year’s 15 celebrities include four reality TV stars: Vicky Pattison, 37, Thomas Skinner, 34, Dani Dyer, 29, and La Voix, 45. There are four sports stars too: sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, 37, footballers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, 53, and Karen Carney, 38, and rugby union’s Chris Robshaw, 39.

It is actors who make up the biggest group, with five: Stefan Dennis, 66, Alex Kingston, 62, Balvinder Sopal, 46, Ellie Goldstein, 23, and Lewis Cope, 30. There is also presenter Ross King, 63, and YouTuber George.

Speaking at an event to launch his new novel, Monte Carlo by Moonlight, Anton said he will soon be reading the celebrities’ body language. He said of judging: “As I sit ther,e I know exactly what has been going on. I can see by this routine what sort of a week you have had and I laugh.

“If they start at the top of the stairs and walk down, they have had a very difficult week, like they are wasting as much time as they can until they get on the floor and have to take hold. The waltz is always lovely to judge. You can always see how good and bad their week has been by how long they stay ‘in hold’.”

After years of grumbles that contestants with dance experience – such as Lewis Cope – have a head start, Anton conceded it is tru,e but that the advantage is only slight. “It will help them a bit. I have not seen many of those who have actually won.”

And he had some tips for the professionals, too. “Learn that it is not about you. I was always aware of that. It is not my name they say first. It is the celebrity’s name.” Anton, who has eight-year-old twins with wife Hannah, also urged BBC bosses to tweak the rules on voting.

This year voting via premium phone lines has been axed and instead viewers have a brief opportunity on Saturday nights to vote online. But Anton thinks voting should go on all week, as many Strictly Come Dancing fans catch up on iPlayer.

He said: “I remember when we started the show, you could vote all week. Now you have a little window, and that is a shame because some people can’t watch it on a Saturday night.

“They might be working or may go out. I would like people to be able to vote during the week as everyone is invested even if they watch it on catch-up, so give them the opportunity to vote.”

And as for the show’s enduring popularity as it enters its 23rd series, he said: “The show works because we re-cast it every year and now we have a couple of new pros. There is an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm for it. The room is always enthused and I think that transfers to people watching it.

“You can like it for different reasons. You can like it for the frocks, the group dances, the couples or want to see how people are getting on. You can like the judges – or not like the judges!”

* The launch show of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing is on at 6.40pm on Saturday on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Strictly Come Dancing is due to come back to our screens next weekend as a host of all-new contestants get ready to take to the dance floor

Strictly Come Dancing’s Ross King has been dealt a huge blow just days before the latest series’ launch show. The showbiz expert is just one of a collection of celebs that are set to put on their dancing shoes next week.

However, it isn’t looking good for the ITV correspondent as he hasn’t been dealt great odds for success. Ross is one of this year’s contestants among the likes of Dani Dyer, Vicky Pattison and Lewis Cope.

He is due to take to the dance floor next Saturday as the latest series begins on September 20. It’s not yet known who he has been partnered up with out of the professional dancers.

READ MORE: Strictly stars issued ‘strict rules’ for new series after show scandalsREAD MORE: Strictly star Stefan Dennis torn apart from wife with fears over dreaded ‘curse’

Betway have released their odds and it’s not looking too good for Ross. Ross has been placed at the bottom of the pile with odds of 66/1 of lifting the glitterball trophy.

Leading the way is Emmerdale star Lewis Cope with 11/4 odds of winning, while Ellie Goldstein is a close second contender of lifting the trophy with odds of 3/1 and Love Island winner Dani Dyer remains at 4/1.

It was revealed back in August that Ross would be one of this year’s contestants. He has since opened up about what training for the show has looked like for him.

READ MORE: Sian Welby stuns in £46 satin dress from M&S that’s perfect for party season

Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine, he said: “It has been absolutely amazing. The sun is shining and Glasgow has never looked better. I’ve seen so much of it because I’ve not been particularly training, but I have been walking a lot.

“I’ve been trying to keep up the training. Yesterday, my niece and nephew made me the biggest Sunday roast I have had in years. I’ve also been partaking in a delicacy here, which is rolling slices, and the people have been lovely.”

The star then went on to talk about how he feels about being at the bottom of another bookies’ odds. Ross explained: “”I felt a bit of pressure, of course, because I’m representing Lorraine, and I saw Alice Beer, who said I’m representing daytime.

“And then of course here they are saying I’m representing Scotland, but the great thing is I discovered today with the Bookies that I’m last at 50/1 to win, so the pressure is completely off me now.”

Ross said it is a “dream come true” to be competing on Strictly Come Dancing this year. He will be dancing beside celebs such as Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Alex Kingston, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, George Clarke and La Voix.

This year’s line-up also features EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal, Chris Robshaw, Ellie Goldstein, Thomas Skinner and Stefan Dennis. The contestants will be trying to win the praise of the iconic judging panel.

Returning to their annual judging duties will be Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and previous professional dancer Anton Du Beke.

Strictly Come Dancing is set to return to screens September 20 on BBC One.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.