Craig Revel Horwood<\/a> has shared a moving insight into the journey that took him from a dance school in Australia to the Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> judging panel.<\/span><\/p>\n The notoriously sharp-tongued judge showed his softer side as he opened up about his story on tonight\u2019s episode of It Takes Two<\/a>, revealing that he first started dancing as a young boy in Ballarat, Australia, as he \u201chated\u201d sport and felt like an \u201coutcast\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just did not fit in at all,\u201d Revel Horwood explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t like sport at school, in fact I hated it, and a kid in Australia that doesn\u2019t like sport is a social misfit and outcast. That\u2019s why I went to the dance classes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople were telling me that I was good at it and it was the first thing that I\u2019d ever been any good at,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n The classes helped him feel \u201cpart of a community that understood and didn\u2019t judge me,\u201d Revel Horwood explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere I grew up, it was not acceptable to be even slightly effeminate. I wanted to be a dancer and that was not acceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Keen to leave his hometown behind \u201cas soon as possible\u201d, dance became \u201can escape route\u201d for the star, who decided to train in Melbourne and funded his studies by working as a hairdresser, after studying books on the subject from the library.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He became a professional dancer, appearing in shows like West Side Story and Cats, before eventually becoming a choreographer, working on the West End production of Miss Saigon at the request of theatre powerhouse Cameron Mackintosh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Revel Horwood joked that he ended up \u201chaving too many arguments with my directors about how I thought [the shows] should go, so I thought the only way to solve that is to direct and choreograph myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p> It was his West End show Beautiful and Damned that eventually caught the attention of Strictly\u2019s producers, who \u201chad seen [the] poster\u201d and decided to \u201cring\u201d up Revel Horwood.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s how I got my job at the BBC on a new programme called Strictly Come Dancing,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Looking back on his childhood, he added: \u201cThe best thing I ever told myself when I was a kid was follow your dreams and never give that up. Follow your passion and you will be successful \u2013 and if you\u2019re not, dust yourself off darling and try it again, because only through failure do we find success.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Revel Horwood joined Strictly Come Dancing as a judge when the first season of the show aired in 2004, appearing alongside Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli, and is now the longest-serving member of the show\u2019s panel.<\/span><\/p>\n He has also judged versions of Dancing With the Stars in New Zealand and in his home country Australia. <\/span><\/p>\n Strictly: It Takes Two is on at 6:15pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer tonight. Find something to watch with our <\/strong>TV Guide<\/strong><\/a> or Streaming Guide<\/a>, or visit our <\/strong>Entertainment<\/strong><\/a> hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013 <\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n By Katie Rosseinsky Published: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 at 12:00 am Craig Revel Horwood has shared a moving insight into the journey that took him from a dance school in Australia to the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel. The notoriously sharp-tongued judge showed his softer side as he opened up about his story on tonight\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26333,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/strictlys-craig-revel-horwood-tells-poignant-story-of-how-he-got-the-job-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Katie Rosseinsky Published: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 at 12:00 am Craig Revel Horwood has shared a moving insight into the journey that took him from a dance school in Australia to the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel. The notoriously sharp-tongued judge showed his softer side as he opened up about his story on tonight\u2019s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/09\/Strictly-Judges-a8e98d2-e1632421440211.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/09\/strictly-come-dancing-2022-judges-34b5dae.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"