Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has defended his low scores for Chris McCausland after the comedian became emotional on It Takes Two

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood delved into his views on the contestants’ performances during Friday’s spin-off show It Takes Two. Chris McCausland, aged 47, along with dance partner Dianne Buswell, 35, delivered a rocking Tango to KISS’ anthem ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ over the weekend.

Despite laying down an impressive routine, they were left languishing near the bottom of the leaderboard, securing only 29 points. Fleur East, who was presenting Friday’s It Takes Two, quizzed Craig: “On average, you score Chris six points, now for someone who is the favourite for the final. Why the low scores Craig?”

Craig seemed surprised as he responded: “Do I? ” He went on to outline what Chris needs to sharpen up: “He still needs to work on a lot of things! I think people at home are falling in love with him, which is absolutely fine, but technically his frame is not great.”

Craig highlighted that while there has been improvement, much work remains: “I mean it has improved, don’t get me wrong, but he needs to work on that, he needs to work on his shoulders they keep raising, he needs to still work on his posture. There’s still a lot of work to do! “.

The discussion came following Chris and Dianne’s own appearance on Thursday’s edition of “It Takes Two”, where host Janette Manrara didn’t shy away from addressing their position on the leaderboard, saying: “Chris, despite being both a ballroom fan and a KISS fan you ended up joint second from the bottom of the leaderboard!”, reports the Mirror.

Chris McCausland, who is Strictly’s first-ever blind contestant, replied taken aback: “Alright, easy Janette! That’s a bit…” Janette immediately elaborated on her stance: “I was gutted as I was so looking forward to it but the scores didn’t reflect that! “.

Chris revealed his uncertainty about his performance, saying, “You know what, I’ve got no idea whether what I do is good or not I have to be told, don’t I? So we did the Samba the week before, we were bottom, and that was hard, it was technical. The Tango, I think I carried a lot of pressure over but those first five shows we did, there was a lot of joy in them. There were a lot of moments, wow moments, we surprised people, we surprised ourselves.”

He reflected on the recent challenges, noting, “Then we’ve had two really technical weeks. The Tango, you can’t even smile in it, you’ve got to look like you’d rather be doing anything else but the Tango! Joint second from the bottom? The competition is hard, I’m just a fella who sits on a stool for a living! “.

Dianne, Chris’ partner, shared an emotional insight into his self-criticism, confessing that he’s “so tough on himself”.