Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland shares daughter fears with emotional admission

Comedian and Strictly's first-ever blind contestant Chris McCausland has candidly revealed his and wife Patricia's worry when it comes their daughter in an emotional explanation

Funnyman Chris McCausland has gotten serious after opening up about a health worry.

The comedian and actor, who became the first blind contestant to join Strictly Come Dancing, has been working hard to improve his routines on the dancefloor with pro partner Diane Buswell. The two scored an impressive 29 points from the judges last week for their Foxtrot to Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by the Tams - a six point increase from week one's Cha Cha to the Beatles' hit Twist and Shout.

For Movie Week, it is believed the pair will perform a Jive to the Wayne's World theme tune - as they hope to get into the 30s and climb up the leaderboard. But off screen, Chris, 47, has got bigger fish to fry.

The celeb was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when he was 22-years-old. The hereditary condition is a rare eye disease that affect the retina and causes the cells to break down slowly over time, causing vision loss. Because people are born with the condition, Chris and his wife Patricia are waiting to find out if their daughter will inherit the same diagnosis - but definite testing is currently lacking.

"If the genome was a map of the United Kingdom, they think my problem is maybe somewhere in south west London but they haven't narrowed it down to a specific gene yet," Chris said, reports the Daily Record. "But it meant that when my daughter was born we wanted to know whether she would have it and of course, there's just no test there's nothing."

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'Analogue' tests for retinitis pigmentosa are currently available and work by monitoring the electrical signals of the optic nerve as you're looking at objects to determine wether they're as strong as they should be. "But [there's] nothing definitive," the comedian added. "It's all just wait and see."

In a Channel 4 programme titled The Wonders of the World I Can't see, Chris opened up about how his self-perception of his blindness has changed over time. "I'm much more accepting of who I am these days I've stopped having tantrums every time I spill drinks or bang my head on the door frame," he said. "But a miracle to cure my blindness completely? Yeah, I'd consider that."

But Chris' vision loss hasn't stopped him donning glittery outfits and aiming for victory. And, naturally, he's pertained his sense of humour, declaring: "By the sound of it, Craig [Revel Horwodod] is blinder than I am," following the judge's harsh criticism of one of his routines.

Strictly Come Dancing airs every Saturday on BBC One.

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