Don't be silly. Of course choreo isn't banned outside of the choreo step, but they were on the center axis and that is a key part of the choreo step sequence element in the RD. There are plenty of ways to be creative about how you start your program or incorporate unjudged choreo sections into your program.
My understanding is that this isn't a thing that can be appealed. The only thing I know for sure that skaters can appeal is an incorrect calculation of their program score. That can mean addition errors, incorrect data entry into the system etc, but I also remember a woman at an Olympics, I think PyeongChang? - appealed her score because a jump that was performed right at the start of the second half of the program didn't have the bonus applied (as was within the rules for bonuses then), and on checking of the timing of the jump it was found to be performed within the second half and the bonus was awarded. It didn't change a thing about the ranking IIRC, but the score that was recorded was the score she should have received under the rules.
Yes, the wrong music was played for them. I went and compared it with their NHK performance, and it's not massively different but enough for the 2nd half of their program to be rushed and not on the music and you could tell they were struggling to make it work. They also had to rush to reach the choreo step sequence at the right time in the music. Really unprofessional from the organizers.
The music played is their July's cut. Filip said the link they received to upload the music before the competition did not work.
They’d announced, though, before Worlds, and they’d been practicing before then. Looking at teams 5-8, they could be reasonably expected to beat all of them. The French Federation had announced them as the best France had to offer, and implied they were the second coming, so if they couldn’t have a judge, they could hardly complain. That’s not the way it played out, and stabbing L/B in the back before Worlds to ensure a judge was well-played.
I think the fact that it came from someone on FSU makes it quite believable. And I also think it's counterproductive to try and connect the criticism about what Rettstatt is doing to liking or disliking a specific team. The fact that it's easily believable that Rettstatt has been assisting specific US teams while being questionable towards other teams (American and not) is a problem on its own, and I can bring several examples of his questionable behavior dated over a decade and a half ago.
Maybe I’m hating ice dance these days, but I thoroughly enjoyed that samba OSP and the hot pink pants.
