Strictly Come Dancing’s Craig Revel Horwood has revealed he thought the show was going to be ‘totally axed’ after the first series.
The judge appeared on The One Show on Friday night alongside Anton du Beke, where he revealed to presenters Rylan Clark-Neal and Ronan Keating that both he and Len Goodman thought the show was initially an “absolute disaster”.
He shared his belief that the show would be cancelled in three weeks.
Craig said: “[Len and I] got together and thought, ‘well, that first show was an absolute disaster, darling. Let’s see where it goes.’
“Then we thought it was going to be totally axed after three weeks but it completely did a full swing about and people absolutely loved it and now, it goes to 60 countries worldwide.”
He added: “It’s really just won the hearts and minds of the world.”
Appearing alongside Craig on the show was new Strictly judge Anton, who teased a ‘great line-up’ this year.
He said: “I think it’s the best line-up, I know we always say this, but I genuinely think it’s an absolutely wonderful line-up.
“I think it’s a brilliant line-up.
“I mean, it’s [like] somebody’s come up with a wish list, and it’s all come true.”
Strictly Come Dancing launched its first ever series in May 2004.
The original hosts of the show were Tess Daly and Bruce Forsyth. They will be back to host the 2021 series.
Claudia Winkleman will be joining her.
This year’s line-up of stars includes BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, Loose Women panellist Judi Love, McFly star Tom Fletcher and Peep Show’s Robert Webb.
In a tweet, Dan said that he had been rushed to hospital after ‘whacking’ his head.
While the star is expected to make a full recover, he will likely have to be absent from training for a few more days.
Dan is expected to appear on the Strictly launch episode.
Tomorrow night’s Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One.