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Privacy Notice Strictly Come Dancing fans rushed to social media to cheer on comedian Chris McCausland and his professional partner Dianne Buswell as they took to the dance floor and danced the cha cha to The Beatles’ classic song Twist and Shout. Chris, who is the first blind contestant to ever compete on the show, has been joking all week about his nerves performing in front of the judges and the audience, and told hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman that he was wearing rubber pants under his costume, just in case his nerves truly kicked in. He didn’t need to be worried, as his dance was a joy, with many fans agreeing and wiping away happy tears on X. “I’m actually crying at Chris and Dianne. How amazing was he considering he can’t see?? and how AMAZING was dianne for being such a good teacher!! That’s genuinely made me emotional,” said one, while another wrote: “I’m in tears and clapping like a loon. You guys are amazing.” There were many other admiring comments, including one viewer who wrote: “absolutely brilliant performance,” and another who said: “Wow!! Chris and Dianne were extraordinary.”
Fans were moved to tears by Chris’s performance
Judge Anton Du Beke also heaped on the well deserved praise when Chris came off the dance floor to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. “That was the most extraordinary thing I’ve seen in my entire life, just brilliant,” he said, giving Chris seven points. While Craig Revel Horwood was more critical, and awarded the comedian just four points, both Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas scored Chris and Dianne six points each. Chris was more than happy, and told Craig that he was “too knackered to care” about the low score he gave him. Sign up to OK!’s TV newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
Chris is the first blind contestant on Strictly
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Chris, 47, had only 10 per cent vision by the time he was 11, and lost his eyesight entirely by the age of 22. He spoke to Radio Times about the challenges of being blind and learning to dance for Strictly Come Dancing. “I don’t know what the dances look like. I couldn’t tell you what a tango is, or a paso doble or the cha-cha-cha, in terms of visuals. Even if somebody says, ‘They’ve done a twirl,’ or, ‘They’re moving to the side,’ there’s a thousand things you can imagine in your head. Until I’m actually physically doing it, I won’t really understand what the dances are.” He added that things got more challenging once he and Dianne came out of the rehearsal room and were dancing in a room with other people. “Once, Dianne just picked my leg up and put it where she wanted. When we’re practising, I can hear Dianne moving around me, but when the crowd was there with the music, I couldn’t hear Dianne, I was just guessing where she was.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnClaudia WinklemanCraig Revel HorwoodTess DalyAnton Du BekeStrictly Come DancingChris McCausland
