Craig Revel Horwood has changed his ‘style of judging’ on Strictly Come Dancing for fear of being cancelled. The 59-year-old judge is the longest-serving member of the BBC One dance show’s panel.

He has always been known for his no-nonsense remarks to celebrity contestants on the show, but Craig has admitted some of his previous “cutting” comments would be seen as “bullying” nowadays.

Craig, who was even nicknamed Mr Nasty on the programme due to his acid tongue, told Radio Times magazine: “I have changed my style of judging.

“I was really harsh 20 years ago. When I look back, I think, ‘Ooh, that’s cutting.’ It would now be classed as bullying, and then I’d be cancelled.”

Craig – who sits on the panel with head judge Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, and Motsi Mabuse – is now “more like a teacher than a judge”. He added: “I was very direct. I do still say what’s wrong, but you can wrap the truth in a nice way. I’m not there for their emotions. don’t care how it affects them in that way, because they need to learn and respect my opinion.”

Craig’s comments come after he awarded his first 10-out-of-10 score of the series last weekend. Tasha Ghouri was the recipient, and she received 10s from the three other judges to give her and her professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec the first perfect score of the series.

Over the years, Craig has shocked viewers with some of his feedback. He awarded fashion writer Susannah Constantine a score of one out of 10 for one of her dances in 2018, and he once told former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith: “[You] limped about like you were lost at a party somewhere, drunk,” following one of her routines.