Strictly's Craig Revel Horwood defends Angela Rippon's Charleston score

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has defended the score he awarded for Angela Rippon's Charleston routine.

The broadcaster and her professional partner Kai Widdrington performed the 1920's style dance to the theme from Murder She Wrote on Saturday's live show (October 28).

Impressed with the routine, Craig gave Angela and Kai a nine for their performance, whilst fellow judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke awarded the couple an eight each, bringing her total score to 33 out of 40.

Related: Strictly's Craig Revel Horwood announces new musical project

During her dance debrief with the judges on Sunday's results show (October 29), Strictly co-host Claudia Winkleman asked Craig about his higher score.

"Something happened on Saturday night, because Angela and Kai danced and you scored higher than your fellow judges," she said. "What I want to ask you genuinely is... is everything alright?"

Craig responded with a laugh, claiming: "The demons came out darling."

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"No, I loved it. It’s a matter of opinion, I think, and that’s why there are four judges and sometimes I will like these types of dances more than maybe the strictly ballroom ones," he continued.

"You know that's why there are our very obvious and different opinions about things."

Explaining the reasons why he gave a high score for Angela's Charleston, Craig added: "What’s so difficult about that dance is not just the swivel but all the intricate timings as well.

Related: Strictly's Zara McDermott breaks silence after show exit

"She danced with complete and absolute ease, you know, and that is difficult."

He concluded: "I’m not giving Angela a nine because she’s 79, I think it was worth a nine, I absolutely loved it."

Angela and Kai's 33 points saw the couple rank joint third on the leaderboard with Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu, who received the same mark for their Black Swan-inspired Paso Doble.

Related: Strictly's Ellie reveals Vito "nearly lost an ear" in training

Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin earned 36 points for their Tango to Olivia Rodrigo's 'Vampire', coming second, with Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola topping the leadership with 38 points for their Salsa to 'Murder on the Dancefloor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Love Island star Zara McDermott and her professional dance partner Graziano Di Prima ended up bottom of the leaderboard with 25 points for their Charleston to 'Jeepers Creepers' by Al Donahue & His Orchestra.

Sadly the public vote wasn't enough to save her, with Zara forced to dance again in the Strictly dance off against Waterloo Road's Adam Thomas and partner Luba Mushtuk.

The judges voted unanimously to save Adam, making Zara the fifth celebrity contestant to be eliminated from the 2023 series.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Tickets for Strictly's 2024 live arena tour are available now.

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