cringe

Craig Revel Horwood nearly slipped and fell on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing as he attempted his favourite routine and fans at home flooded social media with their reaction

Craig Revel Horwood nearly slipped and fell on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing. The professional dancer, 60, was back in his seat on the judging panel alongside Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke where he had spent much of the evening dishing out his typically-acerbic critique to celebrities like Thomas Skinner, Vicky Pattison and Ross King.

Just before Balvinder Sopal, who is known to fans of BBC soap EastEnders for playing Suki Panesar on the long-running programme, took to the stage, Craig leapt out of his seat once it became apparent that his ‘favourite’ routine was about to be performed. The TV star is a huge fan of the Charletson, and excitedly skipped around in front of the cameras.

Tess Daly was just about to introduce Balvinder to the stage, and laughed as Craig excitedly performed a few seconds of the famous routine. But the move didn’t necessarily go down too well with viewers at home as they noticed straight away that he almost lost his footing.

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One fan wrote on X: “Craig being iconic but also nearly slipping there,” whilst another said: “Craig nearly slipping lmfaoooo” A third simply asked: “What the hell was that Craig?” whilst a fourth said: “Thought i was about to watch Craig faceplant onto the floor there for a sec.” Another added: “What was that all about with Craig? Really cringe & annoying,get back in your box mate!”

Balvinder then took to the stage alongside her professional partner Julian Caillon to perform the dance, all set to Been Like This by Meghan Trainor. They received a score of 30, made up of two sevens and two eights.

But Craig’s dancing moment wasn’t the only thing fans issued a complaint over during the second live show of this year’s series. As soon as the programme began, viewers took issue with the fact that presenters Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly do not get their own introduction, even though the judges do.

One wrote: “Okay…..no intros for Tess and Claudia” and another said: “So Tess and Claudia don’t get introduced anymore” In agreement, a third viewer said: “I hate the way Tess and Claudia don’t get an intro now but the judges do!”

It was Amber Davies‘ night in the end, though, as the former Love Island winner and musical theatre star topped the leaderboard with a score of 56, when combining her scores from this week and the first week of the show.

To make things extra special for the West End actress, she celebrated her 29th birthday on Saturday and was surprised with a cake that came with a picture of her and her professional partner Kai Widdrington printed onto it. Just hours before the show, he surprised her with a large bouquet of flowers along with a Happy Birthday balloon.

The moment was captured on video, and Amber, who will star as Elle Woods in next year’s UK tour of Legally Blonde: The Musical, captioned the Instagram post saying: “Little me would never believe I would be celebrating my last birthday in my twenties on the Strictly ballroom dancefloor.”

She added: “Golden star for the most fab pro partner ever @nikita__kuzmin !!! He remembered guys best birthday EVER !!!! @bbcstrictly (he did infact say happy 40th birthday whilst handing me this gift..) Thank you so much for all the birthday love, time to celebrate with a SAMBAAAAA.”

And friends and family wasted no time in sending their best wishes to Amber. One person wrote: “Happy birthday beautiful!!! What a special day it’s going to be! The last year of your twenties is going to be the best

Meanwhile, It Takes Two’s roving reporter and former Strictly finalist Tasha Ghouri wrote: “Happy birthday lovely!! ” And Sue Davies, Amber’s mother, penned: “A very special birthday my girl love you so much .”

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THE saying goes, ‘less is more’, but celebrities are taking that a little too literally as flashing thongs return.

The trend was big in the noughties with the ‘it’ girls of the day, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, showing the tops of their G-Strings.

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And TV royalty, Gillian Anderson flashed hers on the red-carpet at the Oscars in 2001 but later was killed off by fashion notoriety – along with tramp stamps.

Flashing your thongs had a resurgence in 2020 with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian flashing their underwear, but now the trend is more than just peeking above your jeans.

It’s about basically doing a moony, but getting away with it because you’re in couture.

Last week Margot Robbie paid tribute to the late, and great, Mr Giorigio Armani who sadly passed away earlier this month by wearing one of his spring designs, a completely sheer and bejewelled dress.

At the premier of her new film, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the 35-year-old undoubtedly looked incredible in the see-through gown with plunging back that showed she was only wearing a thong.

Just a couple of days later fellow actress Dakota Johnson, 35, wore a similar look.

A high neck, long sleeved, floor length dress made from lace that also flashed her bum in a black thong.

Her Gucci gown for a charity dinner in New York, again, looked incredible on her.

But we need to think about their consequences.

Thongs, a piece of fabric that connects from the front to the back and no more than a few centimetres thick. And that connection of fabric goes via your, erm, bum.

When it’s in black and white it sounds vulgar, and not to mention uncomfortable.

And I don’t want to see that when I’m in a bar sipping my glass of Sauvignon, because let’s face it where celebs lead – we all follow.

When you’re a Hollywood A-lister with the pristine figure good enough to better the world’s best supermodels, sure flash away – you look sensational.

But let’s not make this trend grip the nation or we’ll be faced with fleshy, droopy, white bottoms on the loose up and down the country.

Pants for a charity fundraiser? No thank you.

Clemmie Fieldsend

And if you shudder at the sight of a ‘builders bum’ then don’t, please don’t, let this trend catch on – because your Friday night in your local ‘Spoons will be overrun with bums.

And it’s not just Margot and Dakota that could lead us into the cringe fashion flop.

Actress Helen Flannagan celebrated her 35th birthday by wearing a gold dress with a thong-bodysuit underneath.

Whilst on holiday the Corrie star went for a more toned down version of the trend wearing something similar to a thong cossie under a beach dress.

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Singer Dua Lipa, 30, hit the streets of New York for the Charlie Chaplin Gala this April in a beautiful black knitted dress with a fine weave that revealed her underwear.

Another modest style of the trend but nevertheless, pants for a charity fundraiser? No thank you.

Model Cara Delevingne has been at it too.

In May at the premier for the Ocean With David Attenborough documentary in London she flashed her thong, and the rest of her body all within spitting distance of our national treasure, Sir David.

There’s no escaping the fact that if we copy you we’ll become the butt of every joke

Clemmie Fieldsend

Complete with plunging neckline, the 33-year-olds chainmail grown might have been a bit too risque for such an occasion and a bit too chilly.

In the same month, Britney Spears did her one of her usual dancing around on Instagram videos, but this time just in thread-bare underwear.

The 43-year-old chose to wear just her bra and knickers for the video and black leather knee high boots.

Now, I’m all for doing what you like in your own home, but maybe the rest of us don’t need to see it.

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Love Island host Maya Jama was reviving the noughties trend way back in January.

For the All Stars series she headed back to the villa wearing a Norma Kamali see-though, ruched gown with off-the-shoulder straps with nothing but black underwear underneath.

With the warm temperatures of South Africa, she may have felt hot and wanted something cool to wear, and if anyone is going to look amazing in this trend it’s Maya, but let’s save it for private holidays.

For high days and holidays maybe, but come on ladies.

There’s no escaping the fact that if we copy you we’ll become the butt of every joke.

So let’s leave this trend, and cracks, in the past.

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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch opened up about snitching on a fellow student, who was cheating on his exams, while at school in a BBC interview – and viewers have slammed the politician

BBC viewers have cringed their way through Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch‘s latest BBC interview after the politician made a candid admission about her school days. The 45-year-old sat down with BBC presenter Amol Rajan to speak about her life and career – however, there’s one particular anecdote of Badenoch’s that left fans baffled throughout the hour-long programme.

Speaking about how she despises rule-breaking, Badenoch admitted that when she was “about 14 or 15”, she stood up in an exam and accused a boy of cheating. “That boy ended up getting expelled,” she said.

“I didn’t get praised for it. I was a relatively popular kid at school, and people said, ‘Why did you do that, why would you do it?’ I said, ‘Because he was doing the wrong thing.'” It comes after Nigel Farage unveiled an ex-Tory who made racist remark on WhatsApp as its newest defector.

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BBC viewers quickly took to social media to slam Badenoch’s confession, with many labelling it her ‘field of wheat’ moment – referring to the interview in which Theresa May said in the run-up to the 2017 election that the naughtiest thing she ever did as a child was “run through the fields of wheat”.

“@KemiBadenoch I think I prefer @theresa_may, running through the fields of what,” one viewer wrote. While another said: “It’s a mystery why Kemi Badenoch isn’t popular with the electorate…”

A third viewer said: “Whoever is advising Kemi Badenoch hates her.” A fourth added: “Who is advising Kemi Badenoch. No way she is winning PM with the way she has been moving.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Badenoch revealed that she lost faith in God after Austrian man Josef Fritzl‘s horrific crimes came to light. Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned underneath his home for 24 years. Badenoch said: “I couldn’t stop reading this story. And I read her account, how she prayed every day to be rescued.

“And I thought, I was praying for all sorts of stupid things and I was getting my prayers answered. I was praying to have good grades, my hair should grow longer, and I would pray for the bus to come on time so I wouldn’t miss something.”

She added: “It’s like, why were those prayers answered, and not this woman’s prayers? And it was like someone blew out a candle. I rejected God, not Christianity. So I would still define myself as a cultural Christian.”

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It screamed watershed moment, the forever luckless Clippers outfoxing the eternally exalted Lakers for the services of not one, but two superstars.

The news stunned the NBA: In a matter of hours, the Clippers had traded for Paul George and signed Kawhi Leonard.

Six years later, the deal for George is considered tragically lopsided, the Clippers fleeced and forced to watch assets they surrendered lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to within three wins of an NBA championship.

The trade wouldn’t be looked upon harshly had the Clippers won a championship in the five seasons that George and Leonard played together. But the deepest the team advanced was the Western Conference finals in 2021.

George left as a free agent last offseason, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Leonard has played in only 266 of 472 games with the Clippers because of injuries. The Clippers paid George $195.9 million and have paid Leonard $194.6 million — with Leonard under contract for another two years and $100.3 million.

Meanwhile, one of the two players shipped to the Thunder along with five first-round draft picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has blossomed into the NBA‘s most valuable player. And the 2022 draft pick acquired from the Clippers was used to select Jalen Williams, a rising star who averaged 21.6 points a game this season.

Both are bargains. Gilgeous-Alexander — known as SGA — was paid just $13.5 million his first three seasons with the Thunder before signing a five-year, $173-million contract that will take him through the 2026-27 season. Williams has made $13.7 million in three seasons and will be paid $6.6 million next season, the last of his rookie contract.

And it’s a deal that just keeps giving — to the Thunder, who as a result of the trade get the Nos. 15 and 24 picks in this year’s draft and the Clippers’ first-round pick in 2026.

Asked to evaluate the deal moments after the Clippers defeated the Thunder in January 2024, George grudgingly acknowledged that the pendulum had swung toward Oklahoma City.

“I just think both sides won,” he said. “I did think it was quite a lot that the Clippers were willing to give up. … When that trade first happened, we knew Shai was going to be really, really good, but he’s special.”

George sighed and continued: “I guess in a way, Oklahoma won that trade with the picks and future MVP, but both sides won.”

The fact is, the Clippers couldn’t say no to the deal. Why? Because Leonard was a free agent coming off an NBA title with Toronto in which he was Finals MVP, and he was weighing offers from the Lakers and Raptors as well as the Clippers.

Signing Leonard was paramount, and he had given the Clippers something of an ultimatum: Trade for a star and I’m yours. Otherwise, it’s hello Lakers.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer needed to be convinced that giving up the slew of draft picks was a smart move. Leonard signing with the Lakers was an unthinkable outcome to Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and he jokingly told Ballmer the Clippers would need to relocate to Seattle if that happened.

“Steve Ballmer was nervous about the picks,” Rivers told The Times in 2019. “I said, ‘Steve, you keep saying six picks for Paul George is insane, but you’re saying it wrong. It’s not six for Paul; it’s six for Paul and Kawhi. So three for each. I would do that.’ You have to look at it in those terms.”

Knowing the Clippers desperately needed to consummate the deal, Thunder general manager Sam Presti demanded SGA — who was coming off an impressive rookie campaign — respected forward Danilo Gallinari and the draft picks.

Unforeseen was that SGA would rapidly rise from promising youngster to foundational piece to perhaps the best player in the NBA. He led the league in scoring this season with 32.7 points a game. He put up 34 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the Thunder’s win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday.

In Game 1, a stunning Pacers comeback was helped by two late missed shots by SGA. Still, he scored 38 points, and his 72 in his first two NBA Finals games is a league record.

“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. “I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”

Through 18 playoff games, SGA is averaging 30.4 points, 6.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have recorded those numbers during a playoff run of 16 or more games.

None of this is a complete surprise. SGA provided the Clippers with opportunities to feel seller’s remorse soon after the trade. On Dec. 22, 2019, he scored 32 points with five assists and two steals in a 118–112 Thunder victory. Two years later almost to the day, he made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Thunder a 104–103 win.

Next is closing out the Finals and delivering a title to Oklahoma City — something that has proven elusive for the Clippers, the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.

“This is where we are, you can’t go back in the past,” SGA said. “You can only make the future better. That’s what I’m focused on.”

The Clippers can only do the same.