Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland left 'distraught' after health condition mocked

Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland has revealed how he was ridiculed for his declining eyesight during his school years. Speaking to LBC presenter James O’Brien on the Full Disclosure podcast, the 47-year-old comedian unpacked his journey and challenges due to a progressive vision impairment known as retinitis pigmentosa.

He recalled that initially, his sight loss during early childhood did not alter the way he was treated by his peers, but this shifted as he and they grew older. Delving into how childhood traumas have a lasting impact, Chris shared a poignant memory from his school days.

He recounted: "When you’re young, a lot of the memories you have are of trauma or bad things, and not even a trauma from what we could consider to be trauma, but just things that obviously caused distress or stress just to even a moderate degree, they kind of stay burned in your mind."

One particular incident that stayed with him was when he was encouraged by a teacher to speak up about something new in his life in front of the class.

Chris continued: "I still remember in one school assembly where we had to stand up and say something that we’d got that year and my teacher said, ‘Well you should say about your new glasses’, and she said, ‘But I think you should say spectacles’.

"And I remember doing this thing and standing up in the class and saying, ‘This year I got some new spectacles’ and all the other kids laughed.

"But they didn’t laugh with me, they laughed at me with what I’d said, and I remember being so upset about that. I was so distraught that all these kids had laughed at me about this thing, and it’s mad."

Chris also shared his experience of gradually losing his eyesight from childhood into his early 20s. He told James: "From my point of view, losing your eyesight very, very gradually - it’s like the frog in the water - you don’t notice the changes, and when you join school when you’re four and your eyesight...there’s less you need to cope with when you’re four years old, you know what I mean?", he recounted.

He continued: "And so the kids around me probably don’t notice the slight differences happening that I don’t notice happening in terms of struggling to see the blackboard, but I do remember that being a thing."

He concluded with a reflection on the irony of his past experiences, saying: "The irony is, obviously, scarred as a child from a room full of people laughing at me, to now desiring a room full of people to laugh at me."

Comedian Chris McCausland is winning over viewers on Strictly Come Dancing, paired with pro dancer Dianne Buswell. She recently praised him on Instagram, saying: "Mind blown yet again by this incredible man @chrismccauslandcomedy thank you for trusting me with every step we take! Even though sometimes what I’m asking you to do must sound so bonkers half/all of the time."

Dianne added: "Thank you all so much for your votes and your kind words we see them and they really do help us push along. Week four let’s have ya."