Craig Revel Horwood has teased what we can expect from this year’s Strictly Come Dancing after the most recent series saw major changes due to the pandemic.
Last year’s shorter series featured a socially-distanced audience (before they disappeared completely halfway through the run due to changes in the UK’s restrictions), no Blackpool special, no Bruno Toniloi and definitely no group hugs.
However, according to the judge, this year’s series is going to look and feel a lot more like what we’re used to – or, as Craig puts it, it’ll be “a much fuller version”.
Craig said he is also hopeful that Bruno will be back in the Strictly studio, after he was absent from the Saturday night shows and joined remotely from Los Angeles on the Sunday shows because of travel restrictions.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We’re hoping Bruno comes back. We really do want him there in the seat – whether he stays in the seat or not as he’s generally up and down like a yo-yo!
“Of course we want him back. If he can’t come back then he’ll do what he did last time, you know, due to restrictions, and just do lives and crosses and feeds to the studio, which was great fun as it was anyway.
“But I’m really looking forward to it. I think the BBC did an amazing job and have protocols in place for absolutely every single situation, so you will get Strictly and a much fuller version this year.”
Craig added: “Obviously, last year they had to isolate in time, so we had to start a month later. They’re planning on doing the full version this year.”
Asked about reports that judge Motsi Mabuse has signed up for another project at the same time as the show, he said: “I read that and I think she’d be absolutely mad, darling, doing the German tour rather than Strictly.
“And like I do in panto, I take the Saturdays off in order to do panto during the week. As long as you can get there and safe to travel then she’d be absolutely fine to do both, I would say.”
Craig also said he hopes to see another same-sex pairing on the show, after boxer Nicola Adams and her partner Katya Jones left the series early because of a positive Covid test.
He said: “I’d love to see a male one, or another girl one. It doesn’t bother me as long as people are dancing together.
“And who knows, you may even see them on the Strictly tour… there you go. So you might get to see at least two extra dances there, which would be absolutely fantastic.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.