Craig Revel Horwood, 58, set up plan to retire at 50 saving £126 a month | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

Craig Revel Horwood, 58, revealed how, when he was younger, he came up with a plan to retire at 50 with the money he could spare at the time.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge has come a long way since his early days in show business, as he is now an accomplished author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen.

However, in a recent, candid interview with Kaye Adams on her How To Be 60 podcast, Craig admitted he did not see himself dancing past his 50s.

Discussing his plans to retire early, Craig told listeners: “I wanted to retire at 50. I’d set up a plan to retire at exactly 50, from when I was 25 and I was doing Miss Saigon – something like that in the West End.

“And then I thought, ‘Right, I’m going to set up a retirement plan because I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life’.

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“And I went to the people who were arranging it… and I could only afford £126 a month to put into it, but I’d never changed that amount.”

But Craig pointed out: “And I’m now coming up to 60 and I still haven’t retired, so there you are.

“I was looking forward to old days, I was looking forward to getting fat, I was looking forward to not having to diet anymore or do exercise, or dance anymore.

“As much as I love dancing, when you’ve done it for a living, it is the last thing you want to do at parties – it’s bizarre.”

Later in the interview, Craig admitted that dancing for a living is “a hard life”, especially when competing against much younger talent.

He explained: “Dancing is a very difficult profession, a hard life.

“And like sportspeople it becomes quite tiring by the time you’re 30 and then you’re dancing up against 16 and 17-year-olds, and their legs are going higher, faster and stronger than you’ll ever be at 30.”

Craig quipped that when auditioning alongside younger people he feels “like their father”, as he caught himself thinking “this is crazy”.

The TV star added: “And I think that sort of sets you off onto the path of, ‘OK, what to do next after the body fails?’”

Craig is “thought to earn an estimated £110,000 for each series of Strictly Come Dancing”, Hello! reported back in 2021.