Chris McCausland admits no one believed he could do Strictly (original) (raw)

Watch: Chris McCausland admitted no one believed he could do Strictly

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Chris McCausland has told how no one believed he would be able to manage Strictly Come Dancing when he signed up to the show - including his own family and dance partner Dianne Buswell.

The blind comedian has fast become a fan favourite in this year's Strictly Come Dancing for his fun partnership with the pro dancer. His achievements on the dancefloor so far are all the more impressive because he is blind and is unable to watch the show - or his partner Dianne Buswell in training - to work out what the dances should look like.

But McCausland is currently sitting in a very respectable sixth place on the leaderboard and has silenced all those who didn't believe he would be able to manage the show, admitting that they included some of those closest to him.

What, how and why?

Chris McCausland is dancing with Dianne Buswell in Strictly. (BBC)

He told This Morning: "I had no expectations because I didn't know what (Strictly) was. I get nothing from listening to Strictly. I had no idea what a Cha Cha was. I don't know how complicated they are, how good people get at them, how rubbish people are. It's so unknown."

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McCausland admitted: "Everyone I knew was like, 'how are you going to do that'. Even my daughter said to me, 'no Daddy, you'll fall off the stage and break your leg'."

His dance partner Buswell agreed that many people's expectations of their partnership had been low, saying: "A lot of people thought, you're going to have a lovely time but it's probably not going to last that long."

She added that her own dad, who is now a huge fan of McCausland, had told her at the beginning of the series "winning isn't everything" but McCausland said that she had actually been the one to say it.

He laughed: "She said, 'I asked to be paired with you, I'm a big fan of your comedy' and then her dad let slip that she said, 'winning isn't everything, sometimes you've got to do a little bit of work for charity'."

Talking about how he copes with training, he said: "It's mentally draining. There's a lot of description. Sometimes I have to get on my hands and knees and feel what (Buswell's) feet are doing. There's so many things to concentrate on."

This week, the couple are dancing a Jive and he said: "It's so fast, it's relentless, there's no let up in it whatsoever...I feel like I've been riding a horse for a month. I spend about a third of the time trying to Jive and two thirds of the time lying on the floor trying to breathe."

Jamie Borthwick reveals long history with Strictly

Michelle Tsiakkas and Jamie Borthwick danced a Rumba last weekend. (BBC)

McCausland wasn't the only Strictly star on ITV1 on Thursday - elsewhere EastEnders' Jamie Borthwick and his partner Michelle Tsiakkas joined Good Morning Britain where the actor explained his long history with Strictly.

Borthwick took part in the Strictly Christmas special last year and admitted he was under "extra pressure" this week as he will be dancing the Quickstep, which he learned for the festive show. However, he said he had been in discussions about joining the main series before and was almost matched with Amy Dowden.

"I spoke to Strictly in 2018 and I had like an audition with the lovely Amy Dowden," he said. "We didn't do it that year, then the Christmas show came around and I thought ok, that's alright, it's not as big as the main show."

Borthwick said he had fallen in love with Strictly during the Christmas show and said: "I was kind of hoping they would ask me to do the main show. I didn't think it would be this year. When they did ask, it was a no-brainer."

He added that the nerves of dancing in the pre-recorded Christmas show were nothing compared to now dancing live each week.

"When we did the Christmas show, that moment 'dancing the Quickstep, Jamie Borthwick' I was standing behind the Queen Vic door thinking I can't do this," he admitted. "I thought that was bad, but the live show, that's like wow. It's a new dance every week. You think (the nerves) are going to go but they don't, they probably get worse every week."

This Morning airs on ITV1 at 10am on weekdays.