Kevin Clifton has admitted he thought Craig Revel Horwood had cost him and Stacey Dooley the glitter ball trophy in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing final because of low marking.
The professional dancer – who was finally crowned the champion on Saturday after being in the final four times before – said he felt like the strict judge had it in for him.
He thought Craig had left him and journalist Stacey with “no chance” of winning after his low scores left them at the bottom of the leaderboard.
He told Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on Monday’s This Morning: “He seems to always be really hard in the final. He always seems to come down on me and my partner in the final. So I was like, ‘no, not again!’.”
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Craig criticised Kevin and Stacey’s show dance as “too bitty”, giving them an eight, while he gave her Paso Doble and foxtrot nines.
Kevin, 36, said he confronted Craig afterwards to find out why he had “killed them” by not giving Stacey, 31, any tens in the final, despite the other judges praising their routines.
“I saw him at the wrap party afterwards and said, ‘Craig, man, you were killing us there’. He just laughed,” he said.
Thanks to the viewers’ votes Kevin was finally able to get his hands on the trophy.
He praised Stacey for her hard work helping him get there, saying she rehearsed night and day.
He added that the win was particularly special because his sister, Joanne, had previously won (with Ore Oduba) so now there were two Clifton names on the award – making their parents very proud.
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However the winning team won’t be reunited on the Strictly Live tour as Kevin admitted he’d already signed up to perform in Rock Of Ages.
“I am leaving her in the very capable of hand of Aljaž Škorjanec,” he revealed before laughing as he told Stacey, “if you get a ten from Craig dancing with Aljaz I’m going to be gutted!”
Was Craig too harsh on Kevin and Stacey? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!