Craig Revel-Horwood rages at Rishi Sunak’s ‘ludicrous’ remarks that people ishould retrain

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel-Horwood has slammed Chancellor Rishi Sunak‘s suggestion that those working in the arts and entertainment should retrain.

Speaking on FUBAR Radio, Craig, 55, hit back at what he called the ‘ludicrous’ remarks made on Tuesday by Sunak, who said people should be prepared to retrain to work in other jobs as a result of the pandemic.

In a conversation with hosts Bobby Norris and Stephen Leng on Access All Areas, Craig pointed out the lack of jobs in the UK, before suggesting how theatres and the arts could adapt in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions. 

‘Ludicrous’: Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel-Horwood has slammed Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s suggestion that those working in the arts and entertainment should retrain

‘That’s ludicrous! Yeah retrain in what?’ Craig blasted. ‘There aren’t enough jobs out there in the first place. The point is I think, yeah retrain theatre people into film and television potentially because that’s where you can work because you can provide social distancing there.’

Craig was commenting on the Chancellor’s interview on ITV News where, when asked if out of work musicians and creatives should find alternative employment, he said: 

‘I can’t pretend that everyone can do exactly the same job that they were doing at the beginning of this crisis…That’s why we’ve put a lot of resource into trying to create new opportunities.’

The famous dancer and choreographer who works in theatre when he’s not judging Strictly, continued to rage about the suggestion, saying: ‘Yep I’m up for retraining for something. You know I could go into a bakery potentially and make bread, something I love the smell of and I could spend all day doing that.’

Chancellor: Craig was commenting on the Chancellor's interview on ITV News where, when asked if out of work creatives should find alternative employment, he said: 'I can't pretend that everyone can do exactly the same job that they were doing at the beginning of this crisis'

Chancellor: Craig was commenting on the Chancellor’s interview on ITV News where, when asked if out of work creatives should find alternative employment, he said: ‘I can’t pretend that everyone can do exactly the same job that they were doing at the beginning of this crisis’

‘I could possibly learn agriculture as well. But you know we’re talking like a three year training and development programme and if you’re like me, got to pay mortgages and you’ve got all of this stuff.

‘I mean are they going to literally take everybody’s house away that can’t pay their mortgage while they’re retraining, you know, going back to school?’

Craig continuted to slam the government’s lack of help for the entertainment industry, saying: ‘The thirty percent thing that the government have said is not great.’ 

‘Having thirty percent of ticket sales won’t pay for the front of house staff, it won’t pay for the booking office, it won’t pay for the performers, it won’t pay for the musicians, it won’t pay for the technicians. I mean there are so many people involved.’

Not impressed: Speaking on FUBAR Radio , Craig, 55, hit back at what he called the 'ludicrous' remarks made on Tuesday by Sunak

Not impressed: Speaking on FUBAR Radio , Craig, 55, hit back at what he called the ‘ludicrous’ remarks made on Tuesday by Sunak

Clearly irate with how his industry has been left behind, he continued: ‘I’ve heard in the news people saying, ‘oh it’s really bad that no one really cares about the theatres. That’s not of interest and shouldn’t be considered the arts because they’re a luxury thing’. 

‘Well I think alright, well you go home and you try and watch Netflix in lockdown darling without any of the actors being there!’

The professional dancer admitted that the financial impact isn’t the only issue for unemployed creatives: ‘It’s a worldwide massive industry and entertainment as human beings is absolutely essential… I think it’s really important mentally, your mental stability and wellbeing in these sort of uncertain times relieves with a little bit of escapism and entertainment!’

Speaking of the future and how the entertainment industry will have to rebuild itself, he said: ‘I think theatres will have to change and be COVID friendly and that is possible. They’re proving that they can do that in Denmark. They put Perspex things up, they stop people leaving for toilet breaks for instance, so you have to have a wee before you go in obviously… So there are ways of doing it.’

Other changes have also been made already, as Craig pointed out: ‘A lot of companies are doing stuff online which is great. It’s not like having the real experience I know that, but there are ways and means of doing it.’

‘I think if this goes on for years, it will have to change and they’ll have to format a way of doing it. It seems like they’ll be able to do stadium shows because there’s a lot of entrances, a lot of exits and you can open up the entire house not just half the house. And use all the seats possible and maintain distancing.’

Summing up his feelings, the judge said: ‘They’re really working hard to get the theatre back on its feet… I feel sorry for every industry that relies on that. You know the restaurants, the bars, the merchandise, there’s just so many people that it affects. But we’ll keep our fingers crossed.’

Strictly star: The famous dancer and choreographer who works in theatre when he's not judging Strictly, continued to rage about the suggestion, saying: 'Yep I'm up for retraining'

Strictly star: The famous dancer and choreographer who works in theatre when he’s not judging Strictly, continued to rage about the suggestion, saying: ‘Yep I’m up for retraining’