Strictly Craig: I was a rent boy

STRICTLY Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood launched his showbiz career by becoming a £100-an-hour RENT BOY, we can reveal.

The gay BBC1 star also worked as a DRAG QUEEN to fund his way through dance school.

Craig-dubbed Mr Nasty on the primetime series-is set to make the sensational con-fessions in his new autobiography, All Balls and Glitter: My Life.

And last night he told News of the World: "I feel it's a part of my life that is very important I'm honest about."

The acid-tongued celeb, 43, will tell how he became a gay hooker when he was just SEVENTEEN and living in a small town in Australia.

His main customer was a famous Aussie TV personality, who was then 43.

The following year Craig found another way to make money-as a raunchy drag queen called LAVISH.

He would don a BLONDE WIG, FULL MAKE-UP, FISHNET STOCKINGS and ELBOW-LENGTH GLOVES to perform at gay bars and clubs around the country.

Craig's secret life of vice will astonish viewers of family favourite Strictly-set for a sixth series later this year.

But a source close to Craig said: "He has many fans in the UK who value his honesty, so he has decided not leave anything out of the book.

"He's not embarrassed about his past-it made him the man he is today."

Navy

Craig's shocking transformation from schoolboy to rentboy started in Ballarat- the gold-mining town near Melbourne where he grew up.

Our source said: "Craig had big dreams and knew his passion was dancing.

"But he was surrounded by people with small-town mentalities, and had no money and no way to get out of town.

"He was dancing and performing in amateur theatre but his dad, who was in the navy, wasn't supportive at all.

"So he became a rent boy to get the cash to leave. It was not a decision he made lightly but he knew exactly what he was doing."

Craig was also working as an apprentice chef at a restaurant, and it was there he first met the celeb who ended up paying him thousands of pounds for sex.

The source said: "Craig was working there late one night when the man came in after filming a TV show.

"One thing led to another and Craig was with him on and off for a year.

"The man even paid Craig to go on a round-the-world trip with him and they went to the premiere of Cats in New York.

"In today's money, Craig would have been making around £100-an-hour."

The identity of his famous client is not known, but the telly judge has threatened to name him in his book.

When Craig had enough money, he left for Melbourne and dance school. And he certainly proved to be creative in the performing arts-when he spawned his alter ego Lavish.

Our photo of "her" was taken in 1984, when Craig was 19. The source said: "Craig stayed as Lavish for five years but decided to kill her off before he moved to Britain. He wanted a fresh start."

Over here, Craig turned his back on vice and became a top choreographer-directing the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester before landing the lucrative job on Strictly. He is also a judge on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, and in a serious relationship with a hunky 28-year-old pharmacist.

But he is bracing himself for heavy flak when his tell-all book is published- because he plans to dish ALL the dirt on Strictly's backstage bitching and back-stabbing. And he is also expecting a book war with fellow judge Len Goodman, who is thought to be publishing HIS autobiography around the same time, in September.

A publishing insider said: "Craig's book will be much more salacious and nasty than Len's. He'll write a lot about how the judges-including Bruno Tonioli and Arlene Phillips-really interact backstage. Some of it is sure to offend them."

Lothario dancer Brendan Cole is also set for a kicking. "They do not get on and Craig will tell exactly how he feels about him," said the source.

The book will also cover the infamous incident with Jan Raven's husband Max, who is said to have shoved Craig in the chest when she was booted off the show two years ago.

Feud

"Craig wasn't happy to say the least, and plans to let rip about what really happened."

He will also write about his feud with Patsy Palmer- EastEnders' Bianca Jackson- sparked when he branded her a "two-bit actress in a two-bit soap in a Puffa jacket".

The source said: "Viewers love Craig because he says what everyone else is thinking.

"So they should love his book-because it will be brutally honest as well."