Cole: 'I won't stand for Horwood abuse'

Brendan Cole has said that he will continue to walk off if judge Craig Revel Horwood makes negative comments on Strictly Come Dancing.

When Horwood described Cole's celebrity partner Jo Wood as performing like a "bush kangaroo" at the weekend, Cole walked away from the judging panel before they had finished speaking. Earlier, Bruno Tonioli had described Wood as looking like a "grasshopper".

"What I'm doing on Saturday night is I'm looking out for Jo," the professional dancer told It Takes Two. "She doesn't need a barrage of embarrassment from grasshopper to Bush kangaroo. She's putting in as many hours as she can to do a great performance and to get that negativity is hurtful and wrong. They are there to give constructive criticism not belittle people.

"The thing is that Bruno has already made the point that it was skippy. It's the judges' job to give us something to take away to next week. Unfortunately, Craig has been negative to us since day one. I find it a little bit too much. So on Saturday I thought, 'I'm not going to give him the air time and I'm going to walk away'.

"I feel bad that I left and didn't hear the other judges because I respect them. I'm sorry to Len [Goodman] and Alesha [Dixon] for not hearing them out."

Speaking about his partner Wood, he added: "She is fine and we will always take it on the chin. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We can turn around and say, 'I wish I hadn't done that', but I'm a person who does what I think at the time.

"But Jo and me are united. If Craig continues the abuse, I will continue to walk. I'm sorry if that upsets the fans."

Strictly Come Dancing continues next Saturday at 7pm on BBC One.