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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
Strictly Come Dancing’s Chris McCausland has already become a favourite among viewers after he left them in stitches during Saturday night’s opening show.
The BBC dancing show returned to screens to celebrate its 20th anniversary, with a fresh batch of 15 celebrities taking to the dancefloor for the pre-recorded launch show.
McCausland, who’s appeared on panel shows including Have I Got News for Youand Would I Lie to You?, won over fans with his quick-witted humour during the show.
As hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman interviewed this year’s cast, McCausland chimed in and referred to fellow contestant, TV personality Dr Punam Krishan: “Can I just say none of us can believe we managed to get in the same room as a GP!”
At one point, he told the hosts: “I may as well get the jokes out now, I’m only here for three weeks.”
McCausland, who is the show’s first blind contestant, lost his sight aged 22 due to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa.
He told the judges he has “not a clue” what to expect from the show due to his condition.
Fans were quick to crown McCausland as the “best part” of this year’s series, with one viewer writing online: “I think we can all agree @chrismccausland is already a highlight of this year’s #Strictly!”
Another added that it was a “stroke of genius” from the BBC to get the comedian to compete on the show.
“Just give the glitterball to Chris McCausland NOW,” said another on X/Twitter. “What a joyous contestant.”
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Another added: “Everyone else can step aside Chris McCausland is the hero of this show already. What an absolute treasure and a star!”
Speaking to The Independent and other media ahead of the show’s launch, McCausland admitted that he and his dance partner are “winging it” since he has never seen the show before, and his professional partner, Diane Buswell, has never taught someone who is blind.
“We’re just gonna have to figure it out as we go along,” he said. “The production team are just being really flexible. My dance partner is figuring out how to teach me. And we are winging it. That’s the best way I think.”
He then joked: “There’s a lot of things that are going to make this more complicated,” he laughed. “If it wasn’t on live telly that would be a good thing as well!”
McCausland also hosts ITV Saturday morning series The Chris McCausland Show, and is known by younger viewers as Rudi, the market trader, in CBeebies show Me Too!
Discussing his motivations behind joining the show, he said that working in a team is a welcome change from his stand-up work, which can be quite “solitary”.
He admitted he was initially reticent about signing up, mainly because he thought it was a ”stupid” idea but changed his mind.
“I wasn’t keen on the idea at first,” he said. “Immediately I was like, ‘No, I can’t do that… that’s ridiculous. That’s a stupid question!’ I’m quite resistant to things and then it takes me a while to acclimatise to it and really think it through. But then I just need to process these things.”
