Strictly Come Dancing 2026 judge Craig Revel Horwood slams Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin as he accuses them of 'taking the mick'
Dani and Nikita found themselves in the middle of the leaderboardStrictly Come Dancing 2026 judge Craig Revel Horwood criticised Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin’s Paso Doble over illegal lifts.
The judge awarded the pair six points as he criticised their choreography.
Craig told the couple: “Honestly, you’re taking the mick, darling; there were four massive lifts in that.”
Lifts are prohibited in the Paso Doble. During supported moves, Dani must keep at least one foot on the floor.
Dani and Nikita under fire
Dani and Nikita performed a Paso Doble to Lorde’s cover of the Tears For Fears classic Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
However, after their routine was done, Craig let them know he wasn’t happy with the choreography.
“That could have been absolutely fantastic, but it was littered with illegal lifts,” he said.
“We’ve let some go before, but honestly you’re taking the mick darling; there were four massive lifts in that.”
Dani and Nikita picked up 30 points, with eights from the rest of the judges.
Fans weren’t happy, however.
Fans slam Craig
Taking to X, fans slammed the scoring of Dani’s performance.
“Dani was CRIMINALLY undermarked! #Strictly,” one fan said.
“Craig scoring Dani the same as Graeme is a travesty,” another wrote.
“Is Craig serious?? I agree about illegal lifts being a rule, but SO SO many routines this year have had lifts that shouldn’t have been there, and the judges have said absolutely nothing. It can’t be one rule for Dani & Nikita and another for the other couples,” a third said.
“I don’t really like how Craig directed the illegal lifts comments at Dani when Nikita choreoed the dance,” another added.
However, some backed Craig. “As Craig said, they let the odd illegal lift go, but Dani had 4 illegal lifts. That’s why he docked her points.”
How has Dani Dyer scored on Strictly Come Dancing?
Her first live dance was a samba to Zara Larsson’s Lush Life, scoring 22 points on September 26.
Their Movie Week foxtrot was danced to Beauty and the Beast and earned 23 points.
For Icons Week, they performed a rumba to Mariah Carey’s Hero, collecting 25 points.
A subsequent salsa brought 31 points, continuing Dani’s progress through the competition.
Their American Smooth then delivered 36 points and sent the couple to the top of the leaderboard.
That result made the Paso Doble a test of whether Dani and Nikita could maintain their leaderboard-leading form.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight, Sunday, November 15, at 7.15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI technology to synthesise source reporting and structured data. It has been reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by our human editorial team before publication.
