Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland appreciates all the love he gets – but he no longer wants to be referred to as “cute”.
The Liverpudlian comedian, actor and presenter became the first blind person to lift the Glitterball trophy in 2024, along with his partner and professional dancer Dianne Buswell.
Last month, the hugely popular duo revealed that they would be releasing a new podcast named after their motto on the show.
Buswell previously revealed she had been told that she wouldn’t make it far in the competition once she had been assigned McCausland. The pair had named their team “Winning is not everything” as McCausland admitted that he felt other couples were better, and named their podcast after the phrase.
Having finished the Strictly tour, which McCausland could not attend because of prior commitments, Buswell quipped about how “cute” his fellow cast found him.
“I genuinely did miss you, I think everyone missed you there,” she said on the first episode of the Winning is not Everything podcast.
“We were in the makeup room on the last day actually, and we’re getting our makeup done and Lauren [Oakley] turns to me and she goes, ‘Awwwww, that’s so cute!’
“And she had a picture of you on her phone and we all gathered round and it was you in a little dance pose with a suit on and a massive big circus tie. You were doing cute little poses for The Sunday Times.”
McCausland said: “This is the problem though. I don’t want to be cute.”
“You were so cute!” Buswell insisted.
“I don’t want to be cute,” McCausland hit back.
Buswell joked: “Everyone on Strictly used to say, ‘Oh Chris, you’re so cute’, and you’d go ‘What about hot? Am I hot?’
“I said, ‘He’s always hot, he’s always having to take a couple of layers off’.”
McCausland added: “I want to be like Pete Wicks.” Buswell then said: “You want to be Pete Wicks hot, not just red and clammy hot
In a dedication to Buswell in his victory speech, McCausland said: “We’ve lasted and lasted and Dianne has got so much out of me. She deserves this so much. Every day she’s just positivity and belief and she’s just one of the easiest people to be funny with than I’ve ever met.”
He then joked: “Unless she changes her number, she’s stuck with me.”
McCausland dedicated his victory to anybody who “got told or thought that they couldn’t do something”.
“It shows that with opportunity, support and determination, that anything can happen,” he said.
