BBC Strictly Come Dancing favourite Chris McCausland makes plea to voters

The blind stand up comedian has said he is determined not to be “a calamity because I can't see”

Despite being tipped to be the favourite to glide away with the infamous Strictly Come Dancing glitter ball trophy, blind comic Chris McCausland has pleaded for votes to be cast on his dancing abilities rather than his disability. The 47-year-old admits he and his professional dance partner Dianne Buswell have done much better than he 'ever thought' but insists he doesn't want 'sympathy votes'.

Tonight, October 19, the Liverpool-born stand up comedian is set to perform an emotional Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone. Ahead of the show, he told The Mirror he is determined not to be “a calamity because I can't see”, but has proven anything but so far with both the judges and fans full of praise for his dance skills.

Chris has a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa which meant he lost his sight in his 20s. While competing in the show he is said to have suffered a number if falls and ahead of last week's show sprained his wrist.

Luckily it was a mild sprain and he was able to continue training wearing a wrist support. He has also had to recently battle with a 'horrible stinking cold'. However, he remains full of optimism for this week's performance.

He told The Mirror: "I mean, to be honest, every time we get through, I say to Dianne, ‘Oh, I got away with that, didn't I?’ It's certainly gone better than I thought it would, because I had no idea whether I'd be able to do it at all, which is part of my doubt of, and the fear of, doing Strictly.

“That first episode, I mean, to say I was s****ing my pants is an understatement. These last weeks have been hard in terms of energy.

"I’ve hit a few walls along the way and that's to be expected for a fellow that sits on stool for a living. I suppose you could say that stand up is that thing of feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

"Stand up ultimately becomes a comfort zone, doesn't it? And even though people think it's brave and all that, it just becomes a regular Tuesday.

"I am the kind of person that will instantly react to something in a way that is like, ‘Oh, you're joking. No way. I can't do that. What? You're having a laugh’.

"It takes me a while for it to settle in my head and for me to process it, you know? I said no to this a few times because I just didn't think I'd be able to do it. I thought it was one step too far."

He added: "I don't want to be the sympathy vote. I don't mind being a bad dancer. I don't mind people laughing at me because I'm a comical dancer or a bad dancer, but I didn't want it to be a calamity because I can't see.”

Chris says that since joining the show he has lost weight, but jokes it hasn't made him feel healthier.

He said" “I don't weigh myself, but I do measure myself around the belly. I think that's a better way of doing it, because otherwise you start going, ‘well, I haven't lost much weight, but muscle weighs more than fat!’. So I just measure my belly, and I've lost a good few inches, but do I feel healthier?

“No! I feel like I've fallen off a horse and been dragged three miles! I’m sure at the end of this, when I have two weeks to recover, I will probably feel the fittest I’ve felt in a while. But at the minute, it's quite a lot.”

He added: “I was in the studio and I had 10 minutes and I just laid on the hard floor. In no other circumstance of life would a hard, cold floor, be comfortable. But such is the punishment you put your body through doing this the pressure of the floor is almost more comfortable than just existing normally!”

Dance partner Dianne made it to the final with boyfriend Joe Sugg in 2018 and EastEnder Bobby Brazier last year. But she is not taking anything for granted this year.

She said: “Honestly, we just want to keep on doing as good a job as we can for as long as we can. Whether that is to the final, whether that’s a few more weeks, whether that's you lifting the glitter ball, whatever it is, as long as we both feel really good about what we've achieved.

"For me, it's about Chris walking away from this experience going, ‘I actually was so much better than I ever thought I could be’, and I already know that's what people think. We already feel like we've done so much that each thing we do now is just an added bonus.”

Chris then joked: “No, I think if we don't win it, we failed!"

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC1 and iPlayer tonight, October 19, at 6.25pm.

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