The thing that makes me a little concerned about this story is that the latest comments have come from Lilia's partner. If Ricky has been trained by Darren's brother Dale then Lilia would have known exactly how long it had been going on for and so the 7 months is probably accurate.

That's more than "a few salsa classes".

It hasn't ruined Strictly for me, in fact I don't really know how I feel about it. Doesn't sit entirely well though if it is true that he had been training specifically for SCD.

Very interesting info, thanks for that.

But where does it put him exactly when he comes to do Salsa in Strictly? It's hardly fair on everyone else is it? I'm not sure I care that much anyway but it doesn't really seem in the spirit of the competition.


That's a very good point actually.

You named some of my favourite contestants there!

More to the point, the likes of John Sergeant might actually attract viewers rather than drive them away. I'm sure a lot of people tune into Strictly for the fun factor. They just want to be entertained (in the same way viewers enjoy the rubbish early auditions on the X-Factor). There has to be something for everyone and I think Strictly usually achieves a good balance.

With regards to prior dance experience, it's not a pre-requisite to becoming a great dancer on Strictly. Ramps, Gough, Kaplinsky were all novices. None of them came to the show with any previous training and they didn't turn out like John Sergeant or Kate Garraway. That's what makes the show special - watching celebrities transform before us.

I'm inclined to believe Dunwoody (he seems a trustworthy chap) when he says that Ricky has had 7 months worth of lessons. It's bound to be an advantage, and like katie_p said, goes against the spirit of the show somewhat.

But I guess everyone will feel differently about the issue.

The only way it ruins the series for me is that it makes Richard Dunwoody look like a poor sport. Was there any need to say that? No.

This seems true then if this is correct than this doesnt sit very well with me every other contestant has had little or no pratice before hand the exception being the ones that went to stage school which i have no issue with as it is not latin or ballroom dancing.However as a few people have already said this does go against the spirit of the competation and it also isnt very fair on the others :sleep:

No need, the Daily Mail will do it for us.

So? It's still a throwaway comment based on thirdhand hearsay.

And it's still salsa.

And blimey, if Dale charges £30 an hour, he can't be much good as a teacher.

And I've never heard of Dale Bennett in the salsa scene.

Apart from that, what has Ricky ever done for us?

Problem is with SCD its different than the situation even with Ray on DOI. Ray was far too good and was secure on the ice at the start which was the main early challenge out of the way and put him months ahead. Ray's saving grace was that no one could get near him in ability though. If the stories are true they do suggest why Ricki is ridiculously good and why he can pick up and hold a complex routine. His problem though is that two or three of the girls are within reach of him and a couple of males have journey stories. If it comes down to a choice being better at the end may not count if you started knowing what the others are learning and there's a big difference between recent lessons in the subject and having some sort of other dancing lessons in the more distant past.

I'm very glad Dunwoody enlightened us with this piece of information.

I don't like to be kept in the dark about how experienced in dance the various celebrities are.

It will probably make little difference to most voters and that's fine. But it does to me.

Doesn't matter if a celeb's had ten years training and can dance like a pro really, does it? It would if it was a show about who's the best dancer and if only the panel of judges decided the result ... but that's not the show. Being a good celeb dancer from Day 1 is probably a disadvantage in the long run, if anything. For a lot of the public at home, Ricky's got nowhere to go. After three weeks, it'll be 'ok, we know he can dance ... get your dance over and let's see how much some of the others have improved'.

He'll never get voted out by the judges, barring some dance-off disaster later in the run, but I doubt he'll win the public vote in the final. Not exactly fair on him, but I expect a lot of folks will be a bit bored by his ability by then.

Couldn't agree more.

Doesn't a new thing 'ruin' Strictly every day now?

Yeah, he'll have a minor advantage.

Because, of course, otherwise he'd have real problems, only having the slight details of being young, gorgeous, fit, with natural rhythm and wonderful balance to barely keep him in the competition.

Look - face it, he's the best. Doing a couple of salsa classes with some second-rate non-specialist teacher hardly mattered.

And again, I say - it's salsa.

Have none of you lot danced salsa? It's a piece of cake, trust me on this.

I think Strictly has died about 5 times now.

Official.

Out of interest, why are most of the Salsas danced on Strictly so crap then?!

Yeah, I take your point but for some reason it still doesn't sit well with me.

Well obviously - it's different strokes for different folks (my favourite series and favourite final 4 was series 5, and they all had previous dance experience to a moderate degree - I don't really care).

I still think it's kind of a shame that his reaction to being eliminated is a snidey comment about how much experience one of the other contestants had. It's not as though he was ever going to win.

Because the professional dancers are also learning the dance.

It's also why most of the AT is crap - to whit, Brendan, and Camilla.


Yeah well for some reason I couldn't care less what experience people have had.

I mean, my God, we've had the same flippin' debate every year now. Who cares?

Erm have loads of posts just been deleted from this thread? I swear there were three pages a second ago.

^ Whoops ignore that my bad.

It seemed more or a jokey, off-the-cuff remark than a snidey one to me. But I guess we'll never be able to determine the true context in which it was made or Richard's true intentions.

7 months isn't "a couple of salsa lessons" nor is Dale Bennett a "second-rate non-specialist teacher." He has built up a very good reputation in the dance world for teaching. I didn't know he did salsa, but if he does then he will be well qualified to teach it. not everyone charges £100 an hour as some Strictly dancers do - there are former world champion dancers out there who charge under £50 for lessons.

I reckon he would have been likely to have had latin lessons rather than just salsa lessons from Dale - but that's obviously pure speculation on my part.

As I said before, I don't feel overly strongly either way about this. People are entitled to have an opinion though, the situation is a little different to the normal training debate.

he's obviously a natural mover and I think natalie's choreography will be his real secret weapon rather than anything else.

All we really need now is to wait for him to confirm or deny his alleged 7-month trainiing prior to SCD.

If confirmed, I still don't think many viewers will care (tabliod media is a completely different matter however). They care more if they will actually be taken to Ricky as a person, and whether that will translate into votes is yet another matter.

If denied, then it will put all these 'confusion' to rest.

But to say it ruin the SCD experience, well personally it will not in either way.

Honestly I think if he has had that much practice it'll count against him where the viewers are concerned.

Not that people will necessarily be against him, more they will be more impressed with those who haven't had as much training and show great improvement. Public vote often skews towards the improvers.

Does it matter??

All the celebs could practice for a couple of years in case they get chosen if they wanted to. If they choose not to that is up to them. So that makes it a level playing field.

Yeah, Strictly has truly started, like the first cuckoo of spring or the first swallow of summer, the first they have had previous experience/training thread has arrived.