BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland fears dance-off as he faces 'dreaded samba'

Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland, the first blind contestant on the BBC show, has opened up about his apprehension towards the dreaded dance-off as he prepares for his latest challenge.

At 47, Chris McCausland has consistently impressed audiences with his performances. In an emotional display last week, he and his pro partner Dianne Buswell danced to Liverpool's anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone', bagging a strong score of 35 from the judges.

Nevertheless, the comedian expressed concern over his next performance. In a recent column for The Telegraph, he touched on the perilous nature of his upcoming Samba routine, indicating a bit of fear about what might unravel.

Chris, reflecting on the fate of other contestants in his Telegraph column, noted: "This week it's the Samba, and its known for being absolutely bloody horrible to do."

He observed the casualties of the series, highlighting the Samba's role in their eliminations: "We have lost four of our fellow contestants so far during this series, and two of them have been lost to the dreaded Samba."

With Hallowe'en Week upon them, he revealed their spooky concept: "It's Hallowe'en Week and so we are taking on the roles of two corpses that rise from their graves to perform to Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees."

The comedian didn't miss the chance to make light of the critique around his posture, often pointed out by judge Craig Revel Horwood: "The thing that excites me the most about this, is that surely corpses can't be expected to have good posture can they? I am telling you all now that my poor posture is just me getting into character as a floppy old corpse honest, Craig!"

"Decomposing Dianne and creepy cadaver Chris will be attempting the dreaded Samba for your spooky entertainment this Saturday, and I just hope we are not its third victim this series."

Discussing his experience on the show and his growth in confidence since it began in September, Chris said: "I feel that my nerves have subsided somewhat as I have got used to dancing on live TV in front of millions, but there was certainly a spike last week, and that was down to the pressure I felt to do a good job for this song that means so much to so many."

In a surprising turn of events last week, former footballer Paul Merson and his dance partner Karen Hauer became the fourth pair to exit the stage, after they found themselves up against JLS star JB Gill with partner Amy Dowden in the dance off. The duo said their goodbyes following their final performance of the Samba to 'Carwash', reports the Express.