Craig Revel Horwood has revealed how he has been forced to alter his "harsh" judging style on Strictly Come Dancing due to fear of "being cancelled".

The Australian-born dancer and TV star, who is the only original judge on the Strictly panel, admitted he had softened his trademark “cutting” remarks amid heightened scrutiny of the BBC show.

Revel Horwood, speaking to Radio Times, said: "I have changed my style of judging.

"I was really harsh 20 years ago. When I look back, I think, ‘Ooh, that’s cutting’.

“It would now be classed as bullying, and then I’d be cancelled.”

Craig Revel Horwood reveals he's altered his "cutting" judging style

While Revel Horwood hasn't completely changed his judging style on Strictly, he revealed he has shifted towards a more constructive style which involves thinking “more like a teacher than a judge”.

The 59-year-old said he used to be “very direct” with celebrities, but now chooses to “wrap the truth in a nice way”.

But in case you are worried Revel Horwood is becoming "too nice", don't worry, he still doesn't care if dancers are upset by his opinions.

Speaking to Radio Times, he said: "I’m not there for their emotions. I don’t care how it affects them in that way, because they need to learn and respect my opinion."

Craig Revel Horwood is one of four judges on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing along with Anton Du Beke, Moti Mabuse and Shirley Ballas.Craig Revel Horwood is one of four judges on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing along with Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas. (Image: BBC/Guy Levy) He also revealed he doesn't care about the backlash from fans, so much so he plans on writing a book about all the social media comments and death threats he has received over the years.

Revel Horwood said: "It will be hilarious. Over the years I’ve been keeping all these comments and so-called death threats from people who have five followers and no dance knowledge, and I’m going to shame them.

"I read these comments and think, 'Wonderful, that’s a brilliant one for the book.'"

"Things have to change" on Strictly says Craig Revel Horwood

This all comes as previous celebrities from the popular BBC One dancing show have begun speaking out about their treatment on Strictly Come Dancing, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary.

All the Strictly Come Dancing winners

Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington made complaints about her 2023 professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice – who has always denied the allegations.

The BBC apologised to Abbington after they assessed the complaints and upheld some, but not all, of those made.

Among Strictly’s new duty of care measures, chaperones were placed in rehearsal rooms.

Revel Horwood added: “Things have to change.

“These dancers are world champions – they’ve been taught properly to win, and the only way you’re going to achieve that is by someone driving you. That’s embedded in their DNA, you can’t just change that overnight.

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“That’s very different to a celebrity who’s a novice coming in. Celebrities are sensitive because they’re in the public domain. They’ve got reputations to protect and don’t want to be seen looking stupid.

“So it’s about having someone there in the room and guarding both the celebrity and the professional, and also encouraging the fact that it should be fun.

“They still need to be pushed, because we can’t get away from the fact that dancing is hard, but it’s a light entertainment programme as well.”