The ever-vibrant Craig Revel Horwood opened up on Good Morning Britain with Charlotte Hawkins and Adil Ray, expressing his desire to remain a mainstay as a judge on the hit show.
Adil remarked: "You're the longest serving judge on there now. I think I heard you say you never want to leave, you want to stay there."
Craig enthused: "I do want to stay. It's the best Saturday ever, I love it. I get a front row seat to the best show ever. For me it's irreplaceable."
When quizzed on his favourite to win the coveted Glitterball Trophy, Craig was effusive: "Well, I am loving the cast, I think Chris [McCausland] is fantastic, I absolutely love his sense of humour, he answers me back the most. He's brilliant"
"Tasha [Ghouri] is fantastic, absolutely gorgeous dancer. There's people coming up, namely a footballer darling. It didn't start particularly well but Paul [Merson] has come through and treating it really seriously. It's wonderful because it's what the show is about."
Despite Craig rooting for Paul to ramp up his game, bookmakers are hinting at a potential exit, with Bet MGM revealing that his chances have sunk dramatically over the past week, now standing at 10/11 to bid farewell to Strictly this Sunday, with Dr Punam Krishan and Wynne Evans not far behind in the stakes, reports the Mirror.
The odds of Wynne exiting Strictly Come Dancing this weekend have dramatically decreased. Initially a 20/1 outsider, the opera singer is now a 9/2 shot, making him the third favourite to be eliminated on Sunday evening, according to a leading bookmaker.
Paul is currently the favourite to leave at 10/11, followed by Punam, who struggled on last week's leaderboard, at 13/4.
Sam Behar, UK Director at BetMGM, commented: "Paul Merson might be the favourite to leave Strictly this weekend but Wynne Evans certainly isn't without a chance of leaving.
"He looked a lively outsider a couple of weeks ago in the outright betting but the news this week certainly hasn't helped his chances and he's been very well-backed to exit on Sunday night.
"He opened up at 20/1 but is now just 9/2, with only Paul Merson (10/11) and Punam Krishan (13/4) shorter in the next elimination betting."
