Craig Revel Horwood reveals dream Strictly contestant

Craig Revel Horwood wants Simon Cowell to do 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

The 58-year-old star serves as a judge on the BBC Latin and ballroom competition alongside Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, and Motsi Mabuse, and while the panellists often say they would love to see a member of the royal family take to the dancefloor, he thinks music mogul Simon - who was behind ITV's former 'Strictly' rival 'The X Factor' - would be a worthy contender on the series.

Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', he said: "We always dream of royalty but I always say I would like to see Simon Cowell on it.

"I think he'd suit the costumes, I think his wit would be brilliant, and I would love it. It would be sort of good, a little bit of a taste of his own medicine I suppose."

Craig - who is a regular in pantomime and recently starred as Miss Hannigan in a UK tour of 'Annie' - went on to defend his own reputation as a "completely honest" judge on the show, and he quashed recent rumours that he might step back from the panel.

He said: "I think people deserve the truth at some stage in their lives and that is why I'm there, to be completely honest and straight down the line. Hopefully, in order for them to become better dancers. That is my only intention. It's not to slag people off for no reason at all. It's not about that. I'm a trained professional and I react to the dancing that I see. It's only fair that I'm honest with them.

"And I'm not leaving, by the way. I am not leaving. I want to quash any of those rumours out there!"

Craig and his fellow judges will be taking part in the upcoming 'Strictly Come Dancing Live!' arena tour, which will see recent winner Ellie Leach, runners up Bobby Brazier and Layton Williams as well as a host of other star contestants from the most recent series take the show around the country, and he joked his co-stars take some "controlling" when on the road.

He said: "Judges Shirley and Anton are both very naughty on the tour. They take some controlling on the tour, darling, that's all I'm saying!"