It wasn’t until Dianne Buswell kicked Chris McCausland in the face that the true extent of the challenges she faced with her new dance partner became reality.
The blow came without him seeing it coming. He didn’t have time to duck or even flinch.
But no, this is not yet another story of alleged bullying and violence at dance rehearsal studio Strictly, which has plagued the Saturday night favorite for the past nine months.
Chris, the participant on the receiving end of Dianne’s high kick (which left him with a slightly sore cheek but thankfully no black eye), is completely blind, something Dianne hadn’t quite fully understood at the time.
As comedian Chris, 47, says in an exclusive interview with the Mail: ‘Maybe Dianne thought I could see more than I was letting on, but I can’t see anything. Nothing. Then I stood there and took her foot right in her face without even blinking.”
Blind comedian Chris McCausland revealed after his first Strictly Come Dancing performance that his partner Dianne Buswell kicked him in the face during training
Chris couldn’t resist using the anecdote about last Saturday’s show. He knew he shouldn’t do that. But it was very funny. And luckily Chris seems to be getting away with it
Chris couldn’t resist using the anecdote about last Saturday’s show. He knew he shouldn’t: It’s fair to assume that the BBC probably doesn’t have much of a sense of humor about this subject, as contestants Amanda Abbington and Zara McDermott both complained about the way they were allegedly treated by their respective dance partners. Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima in training – accusations they deny.
“I didn’t tell the bosses I was going to say it because I knew they would tell me not to,” he says. “It’s one of those things you wouldn’t say on paper, but I knew it was funny.”
It was. Very funny. And luckily Chris seems to be getting away with it.
After just a week of performing live, the show’s first blind contestant has been hailed as Strictly’s savior.
While a dark cloud had been hanging over him since January, when Amanda first went public with her complaints, he brought a bundle of joy to viewers of the controversial show with his cheeky humor and impressive Cha Cha at the Beatles’ Twist and Shout last Saturday night .
He and Dianne were awarded 23 points out of 40, but bookmakers immediately cut the odds of them winning the glitterball from 14/1 to 7/2, putting him alongside the frontrunners, former JLS singer and TV presenter JB Gill and his dance partner Amy Dowden. .
Chris – who lives in south London, with his wife Patricia, a psychologist, and 11-year-old daughter Sophie – says he has now revised his original target of three weeks on the show, although he still insists he won’t win.
However, others believe that this is not the case. Strictly bosses are keen to recreate the magic of their first deaf dancer, Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won the series three years ago.
But for this very reason, Chris almost didn’t participate, because he didn’t want to be part of any tokenism.
“I said no a few times, I didn’t think I could do this,” he says. ‘I didn’t think it would be logistically possible to do this live on television. I didn’t want to be a token effort, a token contribution so that people would say, “Ahhh, wasn’t that a good effort, didn’t he do a good job for someone who can’t see.” I didn’t want that.’
Chris and Dianne were awarded 23 out of 40 points, but the bookmakers immediately cut the odds of them winning the glitterball from 14/1 to 7/2, putting it alongside the leaders.
Chris, presenter of the Chris McCausland show on ITV, admits the BBC was persistent, and after some pressure from his own ‘camp’ – his agent and tour manager, who he jokes wanted to raise his profile – he agreed in. “The idea of the glitter, the sequins, I can’t see what the show is. I can’t listen to it anymore because it’s of no use to me. I didn’t know how good or crap the people doing it were and where I could possibly fit into it.
‘There were so many unknowns, so much danger. I had no idea if it would be possible or if I would be in a car accident. But in the end I made peace with terror.’
Chris lost his sight in his early 20s due to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa. The decline was gradual from birth, starting with not being able to see in the dark to not being able to see at all.
Liverpool-born Chris studied software engineering before turning to stand-up comedy, proving that the versatility of blind people was behind his decision to take part.
“I think it’s good that the blind community is represented so that everyone can see what they can do. The unemployment rate for blind people of working age is about 70 percent,” he says. “There are a lot of people who don’t have anyone in their circle who are blind, who ask questions like, ‘How do you like your mouth when you’re eating?’
‘A lot of what we do [on the dance floor] is problem solving, as blind people have to do in everyday life.’
Nevertheless, his ‘Strictly Journey’ has not, as they say, been easy. When we speak on Thursday afternoon, Chris says he is ‘devastated’ and so stiff it feels like he has ‘been sleeping on the floor for a month’. On the plus side, he has lost an inch and a half from his waist. “Amazing, isn’t it?” he laughs.
But the last month of training was tough. Recalling his first live dance, he said Dianne told him he was “a shade of pale like she’d never seen before.”
‘There were so many unknowns that I thought, “Oh, if I can get through this…” That walk from the marquee to the dance floor? It’s like being taken away to be hanged; the green mile.’
The comic (seen at age 32) lost his eyesight in his early 20s, due to an inherited condition called retinitis pigmentosa
He studied software engineering before turning to stand-up comedy
But he pulled it off triumphantly and received a standing ovation from the crowd at Elstree Studios.
So, how did the couple do? Especially when the only dancing Chris has done so far is some drunken dancing at weddings?
As with any task in life, Chris relies on hearing and touch. A lot of it comes down to him hearing Dianne’s footsteps as she describes how she does it, but he adds, “Part of it involves getting on the ground and feeling her feet, and I’m telling you she has calf muscles like you would have.’ I don’t believe.
‘Sometimes she has to pick up my leg and put it where she wants it, like I’m some kind of bendy Spider-Man. She’s amazing, her adventurous risk taking is fantastic. She puts things into the routines that are difficult, and we find ways to make it work instead of saying, ‘I can’t do it.’
However, Chris explains, there is a difference between training in a dance studio, where there is no background noise and he can hear where Dianne is all the time, and live on television when there is loud music playing and the audience clapping and cheering. .
When he realized this, he was struck with complete fear. ‘We were doing a cartwheel where I wanted to grab her legs and swing her through mine. We could practice it, but we couldn’t practice without hearing.”
In the end it went surprisingly well live in the studio. Even Sophie was impressed.
Chris says: ‘She had never watched Strictly before so I had to show her what I was doing. Last week she was really nervous for me. But afterwards she was so happy.’
And what about the necessary sequin and spray tan makeover that the show’s glam team had in store for him?
“I had one thing where I didn’t want to look stupid, but I’m okay with that,” Chris says. ‘I’m not here to take myself seriously. I didn’t get the spray tan last week because it was a 60’s themed gig. But if Dianne wants to spray paint me this week, she can paint me any color she wants.”
Chris and Dianne take part in this year’s first episode of Strictly
He does have some caveats: “I told them no Speedos or Mankinis.”
Apart from the exhaustion, training went well – and Dianne didn’t accidentally kick him in the face or anywhere this week.
The laughter stops for a moment when I ask Chris what he misses about the visual world.
His voice drops with a hint of sadness: “I miss watching football – Liverpool. Football is fun, and if you can’t see it, you’re missing out.
‘In terms of life, it’s just a bit of a walk. It’s not fun, it’s stressful and scary.
‘I’ve never seen my daughter Sophie, but do I miss it? Well, I’ve never had it; It’s not like I used to see her and I don’t anymore. But the football. . . which I do miss.’
When he makes his bow on Strictly tonight – no doubt to the roar of approval from the stands – the excitement will be back. And Chris will be the one in the spotlight, enjoying every moment.