Strictly Come Dancing’s Chris McCausland has admitted being ‘terrified’ he’d make a fool of himself on the BBC show after becoming it’s first ever blind competitor.
The comedian, 47, made his debut on the show with pro partner Dianne Buswell last week with fans already tipping him as this year’s winner.
Chris admitted being nervous about signing up to appear on live TV every Saturday night, and worried how his disability would effect his performance.
The funnyman started losing his sight 20 years ago, between the ages of 16 and 21, due to retinitis pigmentosa which, according to the NHS, sees sufferers lose their sight as the light-sensing cells of the retina gradually deteriorate.
He wrote in The Telegraph: ‘I mean, how can I possibly have confidence in my ability to do something when I can’t see the entirely visual thing that I’m being asked to do?’.
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Strictly Come Dancing’s Chris McCausland has admitted being ‘terrified’ he’d make a fool of himself on the BBC show after becoming it’s first ever blind competitor (pictured with partner Dianne Buswell)
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The comedian, 47, made his debut on the show last week with fans already tipping him as this year’s winner
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Chris admitted being nervous about signing up to appear on live TV every Saturday night, and worried how his disability would effect his performance
Before sarcastically adding: ‘On top of that, stick it on live TV where failures are there for everybody to see and where the chance of a generous edit is absolute zero, and what could possibly go wrong?’.
Chris who shares shares daughter Sophie, 10, with his wife Patricia, said the youngster feared he’d fall off the dance floor.
‘I showed my 10-year-old daughter a clip of the show and asked her if I should do it. ‘No, Daddy’ she said. ‘You’ll fall off the stage and break your leg. She’s a joker at heart, but she’s got a point’.
His signing is a first for the dance competition which previously featured deaf EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis who won the glitterball trophy alongside Giovanni Pearce in 2021.
Speaking to MailOnline about how he was going to dance without being able to see, he confessed: ‘I have no idea! They asked what they could do because I’ve never seen the show for obvious reasons. I can’t even go back and watch it to see what it involves, how intricate the dances are.
‘All we can do is figure it out as we’re going along because I need to be in it and doing it to see what works and what doesn’t.’
Chris continued: ‘Everyone’s been really flexible, really supportive, and me and my partner are just figuring out ways for them to teach me and for me to learn.
‘It’s a learning curve and hopefully the mistakes we make along the way will allow us to have a bit of a laugh, make some funny VTs and show the mistakes, because there will be a lot of mistakes along the way, I imagine.’
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He wrote: ‘I mean, how can I possibly have confidence in my ability to do something when I can’t see the entirely visual thing that I’m being asked to do?’
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Before sarcastically adding: ‘On top of that, stick it on live TV where failures are there for everybody to see and where the chance of a generous edit is absolute zero, and what could possibly go wrong?
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Chris who shares shares daughter Sophie, 10, with his wife Patricia (pictured together in 2012) said the youngster feared he’d fall off the dance floor
Despite being the first blind star to appear on the show, he insisted he’s not setting out to ‘inspire’ anyone.
He explained: ‘For me it’s not inspiring. I don’t think blind people need inspiring as much as they need representing.
‘So it’s more for everybody else watching it who maybe isn’t exposed to somebody who’s blind in their life, who has got these really antiquated ideas.
‘I’ve got in a taxi before and someone’s gone “oh wow, you did the stairs on your own”. People think you can’t do anything if you’re blind.
‘So it’s more just showing that more is capable than people imagine. The only problem with that is if I’m s**t, it doesn’t help anybody!’
Chris went on to add: ‘There will be things that I probably can’t do or I get wrong along the way and you need to roll with it and be able to laugh at the failures.
‘Hopefully I won’t be the only one making mistakes but this is the problem, when we’re doing the group dance, I can’t see the mistakes everyone else is making!’
Speaking about his visual impairment previously while taking part in Channel 4 series Scared of the Dark, Chris explained: ‘I’m blind but I don’t see black.
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His signing is a first for the dance competition which previously featured deaf EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis who won the glitterball trophy alongside Giovanni Pearce in 2021
WHAT IS RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA?
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of rare, genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina – the light sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye.
Common symptoms include difficulty seeing at night and a loss of side (peripheral) vision.
RP is an inherited disorder that results from harmful changes in any one of more than 50 genes.
These genes carry the instructions for making proteins that are needed in cells within the retina, called photoreceptors.
Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreased peripheral vision.
Source: National Eye Institute
‘I still see light and space, I still have an awareness of the space around me, not in terms of objects and things, but in terms of the room and whether there might be something in front of me.
‘It just gives you that awareness that you’re taking that away from me. I’m a slave to my iPhone like everybody else. So on paper you go, ‘Well, I should nail this,’ but in one area I should be more practically adjusted.
‘It’ll be quite interesting to see how quickly everybody else gets to that point. I’m quite looking forward to being the most able bodied person for a while. It doesn’t happen often.’
In recent months, the dancing competition has been hit by a wave of scandals, with Giovanni Pernice being probed after his celebrity partner Amanda Abbington accused him of abusive behaviour, while Graziano Di Prima was sacked over reports he verbally and physically abused Zara McDermott during rehearsals.
