Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood defended by viewers as judges ‘fight’ over ‘harsh’ Amber Davies comments

‘Wait a minute! Craig was that you being the nice guy’

Fans of the BBC show praised Craig for calling out his fellow judges(Image: BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing viewers have jumped to Craig Revel Horwood’s defence after he called out his fellow judges for being ‘too harsh’ to Amber Davies. Craig has been on the judging panel for two decades, ever since the hit BBC show first aired in 2004, and is known for his ‘mean’ comments.

However, things took a turn during Saturday’s semi-final (December 13) after Craig said Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas were being ‘unnecessarily harsh’ to West End star Amber. The actress is hoping to make it to next week’s final and is up against EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal, YouTuber George Clarke and Lioness Karen Carney.

Last week, Amber found herself in the bottom two facing Emmerdale’s Lewis Cope, despite both of them being at the top of the leaderboard. But as Amber and her professional dance partner Nikita Kuzmin were saved by the judges, Lewis was booted out of the Strictly competition.

Tonight’s show saw all four couples perform twice with two routines in a bid to impress judges Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas and get one step closer to the Glitterball Trophy. Amber and Nikita’s first dance of the night was a Tango to Michael Buble’s Higher which earned them three 9’s and one 10 from Motsi.

But following their performance, the judges had a disagreement as Amber was given critique from Anton and Shirley. Anton was booed as he said he ‘found a disconnect between the upper body and lower body’ and Shirley said she thought Amber ‘looked a little bit unconfident’.

Amber was given some ‘harsh’ comments from judges Anton and Shirley(Image: BBC)

However Craig disagreed and jumped to the dancer’s defence whilst calling out his fellow judges. He began: “Unnecessarily harsh,” as the audience cheered and Amber jumped for joy. He then continued: “There wasn’t actually that much wrong with it. It was clean, it was passionate, it was full of purpose darling. You are brilliant.” Anton then responded: “The tables have turned,” before Craig added: “I’m just being honest.” Motsi then joked: “The daddy’s are fighting,” as she went on to agree with Craig.

Viewers took to X to air their thoughts, as one fan @graceeex__ said: “Craig clocking the other judges for nit-picking Amber,” as @strictlymiaa said: “Craig hyping Amber up like she deserves I knew I liked him #strictly.” @Tatty0__0 wrote: “Thank you to Craig for as ever keeping it real #Strictly.”

@pam_debeauvoir said: “Wait a minute! Craig was that you being the nice guy commenting about Amber’s tango. Shirley and Anton saw something else #Strictly,” as @nancyswheeIer wrote: “Craig is the only judge with sense because in what world did amber’s dance deserve harsher comments than bal….#strictly.”

@koocentre also said: “I can’t believe how harsh Shirley and Anton just were to amber for what was an incredible dance… and Craig coming to her defence and calling them out? so nice to see! she’s amazing and i can’t understand why they’re so harsh on her when she danced that well #strictly.”

@slinehan1 also agreed: “THANK YOU CRAIG!! There absolutely wasn’t much wrong with Amber’s tango. It’s like they want Amber out now Lewis is gone. The judging this series is p***ing me off,” as @quietbatwoman said: “Amber is amazing! At least you can count on Craig to be honest and not afraid of the publics opinion. #StrictlyComeDancing #strictly.”