STRICTLY Come Dancing fans have been left stunned as the meanest judge on the panel was softened in the Strictly final, and moved to almost tears.
Judge Craig Revel Horwood is known for his harsh critic and even harsher marking, yet the Strictly Come Dancing finale appeared to move him to almost crying live on air.
As he gave his feedback to comedian Chris McCausland and pro dancer Dianne Buswell, the notoriously strict judge and choreographer was visibly emotional.
Giving his feedback on the couple’s final dance to You’ll Never Walk Alone, Craig revealed he’s had his “eyes opened” after visiting the studio to see McCausland and Buswell practice.
He said: “My eyes were made wide open when i came to join you in the studio, and I loved every second of it.”
He then took things a step further as he read out a Christmas card to the comedian, describing him as a “light that shines for all to see”.
He read out his Christmas card, filled with some jokes before later coming out from his seat to come and hug the couple.
Viewers at home were left surprised by Craig’s actions, as he’s typically more stern faced and hard to please.
Writing on social media, one viewer wrote: “Ugly crying at Chris and Dianne. What an amazing, inspiring partnership this has been. The room and the reaction to their final dance says it all. Craig’s poem was beautiful also.”
Another shared: “Chris‘ last dance. I am sobbing. Dianne was crying before it even started! Craig‘s poem just topped it off.
“I’m so happy that the stingiest judge on earth, knows it’s not just about the scores.”
“I never thought Craig would show his soft side on Strictly. Chris certainly brought it out of him tonight,” said a third.
A fourth added: “That poem was possibly the nicest thing I’ve ever seen Craig do on Strictly. No matter his scores for Chris, that is the kindest moment I’ve ever seen.”
The judge’s comments come as Chris and Dianne were also left in tears after their final performance of the night.
Reflecting on their Strictly journey, Chris said: “I shed a tear during the Viennese Waltz last week and I haven’t been able to turn the tap off this week.
“It’s not taken a lot to get me going. It’s just so overwhelming being in the final. Just the messages I’ve had.
“I’m just really proud of what we’ve been able to do. If I could have picked any [of the judges] to be with me, it would have been Craig.
“He’s been my toughest critic and so there’s more to learn from him.”
Dianne then added: “There’s so much more that is possible. Even I at the beginning thought I didn’t know how we could do this. And he said, Di I can do so much more than you think.
“Everyone that may have a disability or an obstacle, you can do so much more than you believe.”
Chris, as the show’s first ever blind contestant, was also crowned the winner of this year’s series with the pair shocked and surprised to be lifting the Glitterball Trophy.
TRAIN passengers have faced delays nearly 15,000 times in the past five years due to issues with junction points.
Network Rail figures show trains are thrown into chaos over faulty points more than 50 times a week.
One failure alone between Reading and Newbury in Berkshire last January affected 669 separate train services.
Points on junctions allow trains to move from one set of tracks on to another.
Any fault means a train gets stranded on a certain route, unable to change tracks — causing blockages to any locomotives behind.
The points are electrically controlled, and often seize up because of power connection issues.
Last year’s figures show there were 3,175 disruptions as a result of points issues, the highest in the past five years.
They affected almost 56,000 services — 5,360 of which had to be cancelled — and led to 10,396 hours of delays.
As taxpayer-funded Network Rail is responsible for upkeep of tracks and stations, it has been paying out huge sums to rail operators in compensation.
The bill for past year is an estimated £69million — most of which covered customer refunds.
Network Rail said: “In April, we announced our £45.4billion rail improvement plan to meet the needs of the railway.”
It also noted that less than one per cent of services had been affected by points failures.
The Government plans to scrap Network Rail and create a new Great British Railways body that will also handle a re-nationalisation plan.
A blockbuster night of boxing is on RIGHT NOW with stacked cards in Liverpool and Monte Carlo!
Natasha Jonas headlines against Ivana Habazin on Merseyside with Lauren Price and Viddal Riley also fighting on a huge Sky Sports bill.
While Cheavon Clarke goes for the vacant European cruiserweight title against Leonardo Mosquea in DAZN‘s show in Monte Carlo.
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BAKE Off star Rahul Mandal has become a dad for the first time – and says it is better than winning the show.
The 37-year-old, who won the show in 2018, shared his happy news today with an announcement in The Times before posting pictures online.
In a touching post, Rahul told his followers: “There is something we want to share. You might have read it in today’s @thetimes.
“If there is anything that can ever top the experience of holding @britishbakeoff trophy, this is it.
“Everyone, let me introduce you to our daughter, Debeshi Mandal, born on 10th December 2024.”
He continued: “We are back from the hospital today. Please send your blessings to Debeshi.
“Now, to the reality of looking after a baby, that neither of us have much experience of. But we will keep trying to do our best, as we did during the pregnancy.”
Rahul went on to describe the difficulties the couple have faced, explaining: “Thousands of miles away from our family the past 9 months was a journey that brought us closer and made us stronger as a couple. Hopefully, we will be good parents, so please, any advice, suggestions, and support is welcome.
“We also had to do tonnes of laundry to sort out. Our washing machine decided to take a break and enjoy our parenthood with us. Hopefully, it will be sorted soon.
“Just wanted to thank the maternity team in Rotherham Hospital and the amazing team in Greenoaks for supporting us during this amazing journey.”
During this time on the baking show, Rahul overcame two disasters to be crowned the unlikely winner
He was distraught when his icing bag exploded during the first doughnut challenge.
And he suffered an even worse catastrophe during the final showstopper task, to create an Edible Landscape, when his mixing bowl smashed, forcing him to start again.
But judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, were impressed with Rahul’s efforts and he beat his rivals Ruby Bhogal, and Kim-Joy Hewlett, to the title.
The scientist was born and raised in Kolkata, India, before his big move to the UK at 23, when he won a scholarship.
Since the show Rahul has continued his day job and works as an engineering researcher at the University of Sheffield’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.
He has however written his own cookbook – Showstopping Cakes: Mastering the Art and Science of Baking – writes for The Times and also makes regular TV appearances.
SMALL boat crossings broke winter records last week when 609 migrants reached our shores on just one day.
Thursday’s shocking milestone pushed up the annual total to a staggering 34,500, 19 per cent more than at the same point last year.
With asylum claims costing an average of £100,000 each, British taxpayers will now be picking up a £3.4billion bill just for processing these cases.
That is before the eye-watering impact on the NHS, social services and housing.
As we show in today’s paper, new arrivals have no difficulty landing illegal jobs, even if they are only delivering takeaways.
Today Yvette Cooper announces new measures to track the cash of traffickers, strengthen policing across Europe and kick out more of those who don’t belong here.
We welcome the Home Secretary’s actions.
But we’ve been promised results for years, and even if they work these moves will take an age to produce significant results.
Nobody is denying Sir Keir Starmer’s government inherited a migration mess from the Tories.
But by scrapping the genuine deterrent of the Rwanda scheme he has made beating the traffickers so much more difficult.
This issue will define our politics far into the future, as it is doing in America and Europe.
That is clear from the popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The British people demanded real change on this issue at the election and the PM needs to show real results.
If he fails to deliver, voters will never forgive him.
PRINCE Andrew should not be the only one facing tough questions over the Chinese spy known only as H6.
Today we publish alarming pictures of the businessman with former Prime Ministers Lord Cameron and Baroness May.
It is clear he burrowed his way into the very heart of the British establishment.
Now this individual has been identified as a security risk, he must be named as soon as possible.
All his contacts in politics and the Royal Family must be fully examined to check that his influence has not spread beyond the gullible Prince.
And Andrew must make clear where every penny comes from that allows him to keep paying for Royal Lodge.
We cannot afford to lower our guard one inch in dealing with the ruthless, snooping Beijing regime.
CHRIS McCausland’s journey to become the first blind winner of Strictly Come Dancing went from him being a reluctant competitor to a champion of the show.
The 47-year-old beat fellow finalists Miranda actress Sarah Hadland, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and JLS singer JB Gill in the final, which has been branded the ‘most emotional’ of all time.
Chris has made history as the first ever blind contestant to take part in and win the BBC dance show.
He performed three routines this evening alongside his pro partner Dianne Buswell.
Speaking after his win, a shocked Chris said: “It’s astonishing. I don’t know what to say.
“I honestly thought I could go out in the first week or two. We have just lasted and lasted.”
But what do we know about Chris’ journey before he lifted the glitterball trophy?
The comedian has hosted his own programme on ITV on Saturday mornings and has also featured on panel shows such as Have I Got News For You, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and QI – as well as appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox.
Before taking part in the dancing show, he joked he must be the only contestant to participate in the show who has “never watched” it before, but thought it would be good to be out of his “comfort zone”.
Chris lost his sight completely by the age of 22 due to retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease which causes gradual degeneration of the retina.
The actor – who has been on BBC shows Moving On, Me Too!, Not Going Out and EastEnders – being included in the line-up was quickly welcomed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), but he admitted he turned down the show several times in the past.
After being partnered with Australian professional dancer Dianne Buswell, they both admitted they were going to have to “figure out” how logistically performances were going to happen, but soon won plaudits for their well-timed dances.
Anton Du Beke said Chris’ first routine, a cha cha to Beatles hit Twist And Shout, was “one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen in my entire life”, and continued to be astonished by his progress along with his fellow judges.
The next week, Chris received a standing judges ovation after lifting Buswell during a performance to Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by The Tams.
Despite the success, he found himself in trouble during Halloween week after the judges placed him joint-last on the leaderboard with Morning Live doctor Dr Punam Krishan.
However, he was saved by the public vote, and scored 29 dancing the tango to Kiss’s Rock And Roll All Nite during the next week, and went on to never find himself in the dreaded dance-off again.
It was in week eight that his blackout performance, imitating his own experience with blindness, went viral.
During a couple’s choice to Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) by John Lennon, McCausland could be seen placing his hands over Diane’s eyes as the room faded to black, before the ballroom went dark.
A few moments later, it was revealed the comedian was spinning Dianne on his shoulders, with pyrotechnics flaring in the background.
The performance received rapturous applause from the audience and a score of 33 from the judges, which he later admitted to the PA news agency was a “leap of faith” and that he did not want to be “cliche”.
He also said he was worried about performing the dance as there was “jeopardy” over how it would represent blind people, and said he did not think people with disabilities need inspiring, but people needed to see them doing things that were “normal”.
Chris also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “there are quite low expectations of people with disabilities”, citing people questioning whether he can walk down steps on his own.
“People’s ideas of disability can be antiquated,” he added. “I hope (me on Strictly) goes some way to stretching people’s ideas of what is possible.”
He also sailed through Blackpool, where he and Dianne were the 100th Strictly couple to perform in the Tower Ballroom, and during week 10 brought the Australian dancer’s parents to tears when they delivered a fiery paso doble.
After finding out he was through to the final last weekend, Chris became emotional, saying he “could barely talk”, and admitted it was “knackering”, and the “scariest” thing he has ever done.
Dianne said that McCausland was “hard to crack”, and “hides behind his comedy a lot”, but he had been overcome with emotional at landing a place in the final.
Earlier this week, the comedian told a press conference that “it’s certainly been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done”, and revealed his daughter was initially “nervous” for him in case he fell over and “embarrassed” himself.
As the show has gone on, he said his 11-year-old has been sharing how proud of him she is, and telling him: “It doesn’t matter daddy if you go out because I think you’ve already won.”