Paul Merson sends clear message to Craig Revel Horwood over ‘critical’ BBC Strictly scores amid exit

Paul Merson has doubled down on his criticism of Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood following his disappointing scores on Saturday night.

The 56-year-old became the latest Strictly star to be shown the exit door alongside pro partner Karen Hauer after they lost their dance-off against JB Gill and Amy Dowden.

On Saturday evening, Merson and Hauer finished at the foot of the leaderboard following their Samba’s score of 19 – two points behind closest couple Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez.

Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas both awarded Merson a five, Anton Du Beke chipped in with a six, but Revel Horwood was unimpressed as he lifted his three paddle.

“I need to meet Craig on Monday and I’ll take him to the Emirates (Stadium) and we’ll have a little kick around,” an irked Merson said after hearing the scores on Saturday night. “See if he can get any good by Tuesday.”

Merson’s frustration at the lowly score continued on Monday night when he joined Fleur East on spin-off show It Takes Two to look back at his time on the show.

East began their discussion about the judges by saying: “Anton, was such a huge fan of yours, Paul. He scored you higher than the other judges, how did it feel to have him in your corner?”

“I’d have been disappointed if he weren’t,” Merson replied. “I’ve been to a couple of dos with him before so I have met him and I do like him.

“He’s a nice bloke, a nice man. Better than the other one… I’m joking! I’m joking,” Merson swiped before he reeled off his true thoughts on Revel Horwood’s scoring.

He said: “You know what, you turn up here… I’d never danced! Like I said, I’d danced three times before in my life.

“You’re taking someone to do something, and you’re getting threes! The other week he said, ‘Karen dances around you’…

“If I took him to football and I learnt him how to play football and in a month’s time we had a football match, I’d give the ball maybe three or four times in the match.

“He’s not playing centre midfield and dictating. It’s so hard, but because he’s a professional dancer it is easy to be critical. It’s so, so hard.

“I have the utmost respect for dancers. I didn’t really pay that much attention before if I’m being honest but now when I watch the good dancers, the music plays around them and for me, it’s the other way around.”

Merson isn’t the only one irked by the scoring from the judges – and BBC Strictly bosses as a whole – following his exit on Sunday evening.

The football pundit’s former co-star Jeff Stelling echoed several viewers’ frustrations with the show for Merson losing his spot at the expense of stars who already have dance training.

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Proud of you Merse. Shame they ruin the show by including people who are trained dancers or have musical theatre backgrounds. Should be people who don’t have any dance training imo. But you were brilliant!

— Jeff Stelling (@JeffStelling) October 20, 2024

The likes of Tasha Ghouri and Sarah Hadland are just two stars who’ve come under fire for their dance background.

Stelling took to X to slam bosses for “ruining” the show for not giving novice dancers a more favourable shot at glory.

“Proud of you Merse,” Stelling penned in response to a post of Merson’s. “Shame they ruin the show by including people who are trained dancers or have musical theatre backgrounds. Should be people who don’t have any dance training imo. But you were brilliant!” (sic)

BBC Strictly bosses had already angered fans for giving Merson the Samba to Car Wash after they’d ditched “irony” and gimmicks in their Quickstep the week before.