Craig Revel Horwood's 3-word response to Strictly celebs at bottom of the leaderboard

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has shared some all important advice for this year's contestants.

During an appearance on BBC2 spinoff show, It Takes Two, on Tuesday (29 September) Craig enjoyed a chat with new host Ellie Taylor and was asked about the week one performances, including those at the top of the leaderboard, and those at the bottom.

Asked if he had any physical reactions to Delta Goodrem's dance, Craig joked: "Err convulsions!" before adding: "No, I loved it. She really threw herself into that dance, and she is spectacular. You can tell she's going to go a long way in the competition."

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Ellie then mentioned the fact that Sarah Storey, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Melanie Walters are currently joint bottom on the Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard.

"What advice would you give them to make their way up the leaderboard?" Ellie asked, to which Craig replied immediately: "I would say, keep it simple."

He continued: "Keep it clean, the steps, and just work really, really hard on as much technique as you can manage to get in the first couple of weeks, because that really does win the judges over.

"But you also have to keep in mind, of course, that if you are at the bottom end of the leaderboard, the public can throw you very much towards the top, so you also have to win the hearts and minds of the nation," Craig added.

Speaking about upcoming Movie Week, Craig admitted that he hasn't heard about any of the concepts.

"It's always a bit of a surprise to me when I walk in because generally I don't recognise anyone because they're so heavily made up and in character!" he said.

"But what it does do, Movie Week or the themed weeks, gives them a little bit of a mask to hide behind, so they're not dancing as themselves, they're dancing in character which really does relieve your nerves because you're portraying a completely different person that isn't you."

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two airs weekdays at 6:30 pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

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Kirsty is a freelance writer and editor specialising in all things entertainment. Over the past 16 years, she has worked on showbiz desks at various national newspaper websites in London, including Express.co.uk, The Sun, and MailOnline.

More recently, she spent three years living in New York City writing celebrity and lifestyle news for DailyMail.com, The Mirror US, and Daily Express US. Kirsty graduated from Southampton Solent with a BA in Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing. When she's not watching reruns of Sex and the City, you'll find her listening to David Bowie and daydreaming about an espresso martini.