Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has revealed he was stabbed and strip-searched during a holiday in Spain. The 61-year-old dancer said his jewellery was also stolen during the attack in Madrid, and he was later searched for drugs when leaving the country.
Attack in Madrid
Speaking on the Judgemental podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow Strictly judge Anton Du Beke, Craig described the incident: "I went on holiday in Madrid and got stabbed, that was nice, and it was stinking hot."
He added: "My jewellery was stolen as well, they ripped my necklace off my neck and gave me a big burn mark… It was a razor blade… I was slashed… (in the) stomach coming home from a club, it was probably two o’clock in the morning, but that’s sort of normal, you go out for dinner at 10 or 11."
Craig recalled that he had been dancing at the Lido in Paris before travelling to Madrid, and the trip "ended up pretty bad."
Strip-Search on Return
After the attack, Craig said he was strip-searched by French authorities upon his return. He explained: "I hadn’t shaved, so I did look a bit of a wreck, I’d been stabbed, I had burn marks all around my neck from where I was, like, attacked. And then the French strip searched me down to literally nothing…. they were looking for drugs."
Hotel Fire in Kenya
Craig also recalled another holiday disaster in Mombasa, Kenya, where he learned his hotel had burned down upon arrival. He said: "I remember flying to Mombasa in Kenya. It was all fabulous, I thought, ‘oh yeah, I’m going on safari, that’s going to be nice’. Got out there, arrived, all the hotels and everything were paid for in advance, they’re giving us a like a bus from the airport to the hotel, and they said on arrival, ‘your hotel has burnt down’…"
He added: "The hotel was burnt down, and no one bothered to tell us until we actually arrived. Anyway, they found us another one, they just shoved us in there, (and) I went on, you know, a very romantic cruise down the River Nile…"
Salmonella Outbreak
The following day, Craig said many in the group fell ill at the airport. He described: "Then the next day we all had to go to the airport and leave all the crews, and one by one, when we’re standing in the queue at the airport, people just were falling to the ground, literally dropping, like boom."
The sickness was later attributed to salmonella poisoning from "off chicken" eaten the previous night.
Craig will return to screens this autumn for the 2026 series of Strictly, joining Anton Du Beke, Shirley Ballas, and Motsi Mabuse in judging the new celebrity contestants.
