The remaining four celebrities are battling it out for a place in the final

STRICTLY’S Chris McCausland hit back at judge Craig Revel Horwood during tonight’s episode – telling him ‘this is your opportunity to be nice’.

Tonight marks the semi-finals of this year’s series of the BBC competition.

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Chris McCausland hit back at Craig Revel Horwood during tonight’s semi-final

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Craig didn’t hold back with what he thought about Chris’ performance
Chris, Tasha Ghouri, Sarah Hadland and Pete Wicks will take to the dance floor in a bid to win a place in the final.

This evening Chris and partner Dianne Buswell’s first dance was the Charleston.

Craig didn’t hold back with what he thought, saying he thought it was “slightly under energised.

He didn’t stop there and added: “There was a little hesitation getting off the floor from after doing the stuff there.

“The heel click going upstage back, could have done it with a click and a straight leg out to complete the move. I’m just being really picky!”

Chris snapped back: “Listen. This is the semifinal.

“This is your opportunity to say something nice…”

Craig awarded him with a seven.

While Motsi Mabuse gave him an eight, and Shirley Ballas and Anton De Beke gave them a nine.

It comes after it was revealed that Chris turned down a BBC documentary spin-off following his Strictly journey.

But he still initially thought he’d have so little chance of progressing to the latter stages that he was only going to move the first part of his stand-up tour which clashed with the dance series, and not the later dates.

Asked about the possibility of a more in-depth documentary on how he’d progressed with his moves, McCausland said: “Somebody’s asked from the BBC to come in and film and stuff, and like film half an hour and talk to us about this.

“I said ‘no’ to it because I think – it’s a bit of a naff word – but it kind of ruins the magic a little bit for people to see it on the telly.

“I’d rather people go ‘how the hell did they do that?’ rather than ‘That’s how they did it then’.”

McCausland was persuaded by friends to take part after always being terrified by the thought and rejecting previous attempts to sign him up.

He told fellow semi-finalist Pete Wicks on the Staying Relevant podcast: “I kind of acclimatised myself to the idea over a little bit of time.

“It was an opportunity. If it worked out it would be great for being able to be on the telly and represent in a way.

“I believe in representation but only if it works.