That is correct, I agree with you. It isnt possible for him to have corrective surgery now for a reality TV show. He probably didnt think it mattered that much when he accepted the job. He can blame his parents I guess but a bit late now to correct.

It wouldnt be helpful for the judges to make a big thing out of it. Craig did make a comment to that effect last night and then let it go.
I have sympathy for him as I have a disability and have done medal exams and had varying comments from examiners. The last one was the worst, mind you it was gold, and we did expect some flack, it isnt helpful though and dancing is surely not just for the perfectly formed people in the world, so lets not discriminate against people with physical problems.

I think it`s horrible that Craig keeps picking him up on his `bowed` or `bandy` legs when there`s nothing Ricky can do about it

As someone with a quite pronounced 'physical problem' I disagree in this context. It is silly to be anything other than realistic. If I was on SCD my disability would affect my dancing. I wanted to be a ballet dancer when I was young That was a sad day when reality hit home

Ricky is a great dancer but his bandy legs and pigeon toes stop him being perfect. That is the fact of it and it can't be brushed under the carpet. I am sure Natalie mentions it often when they are training and he is an adult, he can take it!

To be honest I didn't notice until Craig pointed it out and now I find it off putting watching Ricky do ballroom. He still is very good but I'm sure this problem be corrected if they had enough time for proper corrective training.

Your feet always have to be turned out in the latin, it gives you more stability for a start and looks nicer.

You can't train bow leggedness out of someone

If you don't sort it out in early childhood when bones are supple only surgery can correct it later.

Craig keeps mentioning Ricky's bandy legs - at least last night he said he can't help it. A few times he's criticised him for 'sickle' feet etc and not mentioned that it would be impossible for him to change it.

Spot on. Why Laila was so inseparable from her Uggs mystified me, especially when she was doing jive training. And Ali's tango practice in normal trainers was rightly criticised by James as putting her at risk of further injury.

The one who got it most right in terms of appropriate footwear was Natalie C who would wear dance trainers when she wasn't wearing her proper dance shoes - they're pitched more than normal trainers and have more flexibility.

Back onto Ricky, I think I read somewhere that he broke his leg when he was younger, hence the bowleggedness. I don't think he should be harangued for it as even if it was correctable by practice, that's not likely to be possible in the time scale of the show. I imagine that with other pigeon toed celebs who have fixed the problem, the problem in the first place was just error/laziness/ignorance of what they were supposed to be doing, rather than their physical shape.

They always find some attribute to criticise over which the celeb has little, if no control. Often times, the celeb will have trained for years to actually get the physical attribute the judges find offensive!

What I find worse, is when the judges magically decided this life long problem is actually resolved - like Craig last night ... er, not so much actually Craig

Totally agree, I think it's too harsh in a competition like Strictly to criticise something that he can't help and doesn't detract vastly from his dancing. Plus as Craig said it hasn't held Brendan Cole back being a bit bandy legged (admittedly not quite to the degree of Ricky).

I don't think the break caused the bow legs because both legs are bow but I read he said it caused him to have weak knees <his legs sound generally a bit wrecked!>.

I agree- his "bandy" legs can't be overcome by training, tho maybe his pigeon toed gait can be.

I think it's very unfair of Craig to keep on criticising his legs when he can't change them.
He doesn't say to Chris- "I've told you before, you must try and be 6 foot tall. Why are you still 5 foot 4?"