Strictly's Craig calls Shirley "picky" for criticising Nigel Harman's dance
Shirley had pointed out some "technical errors" in the former EastEnders star's Viennese Waltz.
Over the years, Craig Revel Horwood has earned a reputation as being the most critical Strictly Come Dancing judge – but tonight he took issue with some harsh comments made by another member of the panel.
After Nigel Harman and his professional partner Katya Jones – who topped the Strictly leaderboard last week – had danced a Viennese Waltz to Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez, head judge Shirley Ballas pointed out a few "technical errors" in the performance.
"[We're in] week two now and I believe that as a great dancer, you could concentrate a little bit more on some really simple footwork," she said. "I'm not asking you to be the world champion in footwork, I'm just asking you to address a few little things."
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But speaking after Shirley and Anton DuBeke had both said their piece, Craig retorted: "You’re being very very picky down there" before repeating the word"picky" several more times.
He added: "Besides all those technical issues which I know you will be able to fix next week quite easily, because you have the ability my darling, you are a fantastic dancer.
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"You have the ability to draw people into the dance and I know people that are watching that at home are going to vote for that."
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And Motsi Mabuse agreed with Craig's assessment, which prompted her to joke: "What happened over there?"
In the end, Nigel and Katya ended up with a total score of 27 – seven points each from Craig, Motsi and Anton and six from Shirley.
That's five points less than the former EastEnders star managed for his paso doble last week, but still enough to find him in the top half of tonight's leaderboard.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 30th September at 6:20pm. The results show will air on Sunday 1st October on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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