Karen has a spine condition that’s she shared details of last week

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Vincent Simone has issued some upsetting news over Karen Carney’s health condition following Motsi Mabuse’s comments.

Last weekend, judge Motsi came under fire with viewers after telling Karen she needed to “challenge” her health condition to see how far they can take her dancing.

Karen had just opened up on having a condition called Scheuermann’s, a spinal health issue that makes it hard for her to open her back up. And now, Vincent has revealed what he would do to help her.

Karen was supported by fans (Credit: BBC/Guy Levy)

What did Motsi say to Karen?

Karen opened up about her health condition, revealing the curve in her spine would mean there are parts she “won’t be able to do as well”.

When receiving her feedback, Motsi comments shocked some viewers. The judge said: “First of all, thank you for sharing with us about your curved spine. It is going to be something that we have to challenge to see how far we can stretch and open because it is a ballroom dance and a specific posture that we need.”

Fans weren’t happy that Motsi told Karen to “challenge” her condition, instead of finding ways to accommodate it.

One fan wrote: “Criticising someone for something they can’t do anything about is beyond ridiculous!”

Vincent believes it can be ‘disguised’ (Credit: ITV / YouTube)

Karen needs ‘clever choreography’

Speaking on behalf of Paddy Power, Vincent exclusively told ED! that there are ways to help hide Karen’s condition.

He admited that he was “impressed” by Karen’s dance and really enjoyed her “fast and powerful spins”. But he agreed that she needed a long spine and neck look.

He told ED!: “Unfortunately, for her to get that long spine and long neck look, it’s not going to be a walk in the park. The team needs to be very clever to try and cover that within the choreography.

“In ballroom, you do need that long spine and long neck. That’s part of the elegance of the dance.”

However, initially, Vincent wasn’t aware of Karen’s condition. And while he doesn’t think there’s much that can help, he believes she can disguise it within her dances.

Vincent explained: “I didn’t know she had a spine condition, which obviously explains why she doesn’t have that long neck the judges were talking about. There’s not much that can be done about that. But there ways to disguise it.

“For example, when I teach ballroom, I will tell my students to lift the spine up and then curve slightly to the left to create that bigger shape at the top. For someone like Karen, you could play with that shape to make it work. I think with clever choreography, it could be covered beautifully.”

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