Craig, from Lytham St Annes, left with his head held high as he achieved his aim of making it to Blackpool's famous Tower Ballroom, and received an unprecedented standing ovation for his performance.
"It was such a magical night," he said. "Even getting a kicking from the judges couldn't stop me getting a standing ovation, that was really special."
Sadly the excitement of the venue didn't transfer to his feet and his cha cha cha with partner Flavia Cacace earned him his lowest score of the series, along with surprisingly strong criticism from judge Alesha Dixon.
"It was a bit harsh," Craig agreed. "But nothing was going to bring me down, I was on cloud nine. It was the right time. I felt that I had reached my potential as a dancer."
Craig, who has starred in ITV1's big drama Collision this week, says he is now looking forward to doing all the things he couldn't during the busy schedule of the show.
"I'm going to take up ballroom classes with my wife.
"I've had the honour of learning from a great, great teacher so it'll be nice to enjoy it without having 8m people watching!" he laughed.
"I'm going to play football on Saturday with the lads, I'm going to get back into my kick boxing - I'm going to jump out of a plane!" he laughed.
And the next winner? "This is where the competition really begins," he said. "You've got people like Ricky Whittle and Ali Bastian who are just brilliant, but then there are some dark horses like Tuffers and Chris Hollins, it could be anyone."
Tweet
