“They ripped my necklace off my neck,” said pro dancer Craig Revel Horwood.

Judge on British *DWTS *recalls getting robbed, stabbed and strip-searched during nightmare vacation in Madrid

“They ripped my necklace off my neck,” said pro dancer Craig Revel Horwood.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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August 4, 2026 12:14 p.m. ET

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Craig Revel Horwood. Credit:

Mike Marsland/WireImage

- One of the judges of the U.K. edition of *Dancing With the Stars* is opening up about a horrifying vacation experience.”

- Pro dancer Craig Revel Horwood said he was stabbed and “slashed” while getting mugged in Madrid.

- To make matters worse, he said he was later strip-searched by French police officers who suspected him of carrying drugs.

Craig Revel Horwood had an unforgettable vacation experience in Spain. Just not for the reasons that one might imagine.

Horwood, a judge on *Strictly Come Dancing** *— the U.K. edition of *Dancing With the Star*s — recently divulged the terrifying memories of his visit to Madrid, where he says he was robbed for his jewelry and later strip-searched by police.

“I went on holiday in Madrid and got stabbed. That was nice. And it was stinking hot,” Horwood quipped to his fellow *Strictly Come Dancing* judge Anton Du Beke on the Aug. 4 episode of their *Judgemental* podcast. “My jewelry was stolen as well. They ripped my necklace off my neck and gave me a big burn mark.”

Horwood explained that he was making his way home from a club, at around two in the morning, when he was confronted. “It was a razor blade,” he recalled, sharing that he was “slashed” across the stomach.

The pro dancer didn’t clarify whether the culprits were pursued or faced any consequences in the aftermath, but noted that the awful experience didn’t end there, as the robbery impacted his return home to France.

Craig Revel Horwood on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ tour in 2020.

Dave J Hogan/Getty

“When I got back, I got strip-searched,” Horwood shared. “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.”

Suspicious of his appearance, Horwood said that French police decided to conduct a rather extensive search.

“The French strip-searched me down to literally nothing,” he recalled. “They were looking for drugs.”

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While that certainly wins the Mirrorball for worst-ever vacation experience, Horwood also had a few other bad memories to pull from. On the subject of unfortunate holiday twists, the BBC star recalled a particularly “horrendous” aspect of his visit to Mombasa, Kenya.

“It was all fabulous. I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going on safari, that’s going to be nice,’” he recalled. “Got out there, arrived, all the hotels and everything were paid for in advance, and they’re giving us a bus from the airport to the hotel.”

He continued, “And they said on arrival, ‘Your hotel has burnt down.’”

Craig Revel Horwood.

Laura Rose/Dave Benett/Getty

Reiterating the insanity of the remark Horwood added, “The hotel was burnt down, and no one bothered to tell us until we actually arrived.”

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The dancer said he and his traveling companions were eventually “shoved” into a different hotel but also dropped another wild anecdote front he trip. At one point, he went on a “romantic cruise” on the River Nile in Egypt where multiple people got salmonella poisoning after eating the “off chicken” from the night before.

“One by one, when we’re standing in the queue at the airport, people just were falling to the ground,” Horwood said. “Literally dropping— like ‘Boom!’”

Needless to say, Horwood will certainly have his guard up for all future vacations.

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