Iwan Thomas thinks Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood is "cruel"
The Olympic sprinter, who was the first celebrity to leave the competition this weekend, described being "slated" by the judge on live TV as "cruelty, really"
Craig Revel Horwood is renowned for being the harshest of the Strictly Come Dancing judges. While Len can be heard praising a celebrity's enthusiasm, Darcey offers kind words of encouragement and Bruno hands out extravagantly worded feedback, Craig drawls about disaaaaasters - and never shies away from bluntly criticising a dancer's efforts.
But Iwan Thomas, who became the first celebrity to leave series 13 this weekend, reckons Craig's unique brand of criticism is actually "cruel."
Iwan, who scored just 13 points out of a potential 40 for his Cha Cha to Sexy And I Know It during Saturday's live show, opened up about his run in with Craig on last night's It Take Two.
Craig's response to Iwan's performance was to say, "Well, that was 21 and a half hours wasted." A comment which upset the Olympic sprinter.
"If he's going to be horrible he should be accurate. It was more like 30 hours!" he told host Zoe Ball.
"At the end of the day Craig's there, he's a judge, he's there for a reason, but as I said I don't mind if he'd said, 'I'll be honest, I don't rate your dancing but I can see you've tried hard'. But to be just slated... it was a bit cruel actually, it was a bit of cruelty really.
"I know he's the panto villain but I did try my best and that's all I can do," he added.
Iwan went on to admit that he wasn't the most natural dancer, but said: "I worked so, so hard... I just felt I could only get better with time. It's so sad that I'm no longer there to improve."
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6:20pm on BBC1
