Strictly Come Dancing viewers have criticised the judging panel for “ignorant and insensitive” remarks made to Karen Carney, while others have described them as “beyond ridiculous”.
The BBC series returned on Saturday (4 October) as the 15 contestants took to the dancefloor for the second time, though there is more jeopardy this time around as the first dance off takes place on Sunday.
Karen, who is partnered with Carlos Gu, shared in the pre-recorded VT ahead of her Tango routine that she has a curved spine, which makes it “really hard to open [her] back up” during ballroom dances.
Following the dance, which scored them 20 points, judge Motsi Mabuse said about Karen’s posture: “It’s going to be something we need to challenge to stretch and open up. There’s a certain ballroom posture that we need.”
Fellow judge Shirley Ballas said that the former professional footballer looked a “little bit closed in” during her performance, while Craig Revel Horwood said that the Tango needed a “wide frame”.
The various comments were widely criticised by fans of the series on social media, with one viewer writing on X: “Annoyed me as well how ableist the judges were towards Karen, she literally can’t do anything about it and they were like oh well, find a way. Awful. #strictly.”
“Quite disgusted that Karen opened up about having a condition that causes a curved spine and Motsi’s reaction was to say they should ‘challenge’ it instead of accommodating it” wrote a second fan, while a third said the remark was “ignorant and insensitive”.
This sentiment was echoed by a fourth viewer, who wrote: “So Karen says she has a curved spine and Motsi says she needs to stretch it out. What is the woman on? Criticising someone for something they cannot do anything about is beyond ridiculous.”
“Motsi’s suggestion to challenge her curved spine was wild to me because it’s not something you can change and challenge overnight, it’s her body structure???” penned another fan, while one other viewer called the comments “disappointing”.
Digital Spy has reached out to Strictly Come Dancing for comment.
On the dancefloor, it was Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe who secured the most points on the night after scoring 31 for their Samba, while Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin had the highest combined score for their first two routines with 56.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
