Dancing With The Stars judges butt heads in 'awkward' moment: 'Zip it'

It’s often described as one of the most wholesome reality shows on TV, but Sunday night’s episode of Dancing With The Stars saw some unexpected drama erupt on the judges' panel. Craig Revel Horwood and longtime judge Helen Richey, who are appearing alongside each other for the very first time this season, had a rather awkward exchange following Nikki Osborne’s Cha Cha with her dance partner Aric Yegudkin.

Helen told Nikki that she needed to connect her core through her limbs and went on a very bizarre rant about waiting at a bus stop which left everyone confused. When it was time for Craig to share his thoughts, he joked that he was “losing the will to live” because of how long it took Helen to try and explain her analogy.

“What is it, prime minister’s question time, darling?” he remarked. “I mean, really.”

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Craig went on to say that Nikki lacks “tone” and needs to “lift up out of [her] chest” before Helen interjected.

“You’re just as bad!” she argued, to which he said, “You had your go, darling, you need to zip it. Zip zip!”.

Not one to back down, Helen retaliated: “Don’t argue with me, Craig. You’re not going to win.”

“I know, the queen will win, darling,” Craig commented, before Helen asked, “Which one?”.

Nikki Osborne weighs in on 'awkward' interaction

Nikki and Sonia Kruger were both speechless following the tense interaction, with co-host Chris Brown admitting it was “like watching mum and dad fighting”.

“We might just leave them for a moment just to sort that out,” he said.

Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle following the episode, Nikki shared that Craig and Helen’s interaction was “very awkward in the room” but she secretly loved it.

“It was great because everyone was on the edge of their seats that people were actually having a bit of argy-bargy,” she detailed. “I liked it, it was like UFC for judges. Fight, fight, fight!”

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Nikki added that she had “no idea” what Helen was trying to say to her when she went on a tangent about waiting at the bus stop, and suspects the dancing veteran was just as confused herself.

“You know what, I think she had a [Joe] Biden moment where I don’t think she knew what she was saying,” she laughed. “I certainly had no idea and I still don’t know what she was saying.

“She came up to me afterwards because I made a joke about public transport. She said, ‘Thank you for bailing me out of that. I started on this analogy and I had nowhere to go’. So even judges can fail! If I was to score them last night, I’d give them a 3 out of 10.”

Dancing With The Stars continues Sunday 7pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus

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