Chris McCausland has become the first ever blind contestant to win Strictly Come Dancing.
Millions of viewers were left in awe each week over the 47-year-old comedian's ability to take to the dancefloor with ease given his disability. After being dubbed favourites to lift the Glitterball trophy throughout the 2024 season of the BBC dancing competition, Chris was finally crowned alongside professional partner Dianne Buswell on Saturday night, leaving the pair in disbelief.
When host Tess Daly asked how he was feeling, the dad-of-one responded: "It's astonishing, I don't know what to say. I thought I would go out in the first week or two." Referring to partner Dianne, he added: "We have lasted and lasted and she has got so much out of me, she deserves this so much."
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PA)The star lost his sight 20 years ago between the ages of 16 and 22 years old due to retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that affects the retina's ability to respond to light, leading to a slow loss of vision. Chris's eyesight deteriorated at university, meaning he was unable to pursue his longed-for career in web development.
Luckily, he also had a talent for stand-up comedy, with his gigs leading to a TV role playing Rudi in CBeebies' Me Too! and appearances on Have I Got News For You. "Being blind wasn't just something that happened to me, it was hereditary," the comedian told The Big Issue.
"Nan was blind, my mum was losing her sight. It was always treated as just part of life, so you get on with it and have a laugh." The star says inheriting a known condition within his family "fed into my way of viewing" his blindness and it's one which might not be expected.
He explained: "When somebody has a disability that comes out the blue, it is very easy and understandable for parents to be protective and wrap them in cotton wool. There's a worry, there's a panic, there's a lack of experience.
"But having it in the family meant even with me having poor sight in my childhood, I was treated no different, sent out playing in the streets. All that forms your personality when you're older."
The comedian is married to Patricia, who he met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the couple have daughter Sophie, 11. He admits the prospect of becoming a parent terrified him, telling Gyles Brandreth: "My dad, all the things he used to do with me as a kid, taking me to different places, and the time he put in helping me build things. You go: 'How am I going to be able to do those things - I'm not going to be a proper dad, I'm going to be a half dad'."
Luckily, he found fatherhood "amazing" and hasn't looked back. As for the future, he told The Big Issue: "I did always think, things are moving so fast, we’ve got the internet now, surely there will be a cure [for his eye condition] and I'll be able to see by the time I’m 30. I mean 40. I mean… and it just moves on and on."
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) says the first symptom you will notice is that you don't see as well as other people without a sight condition in dim light, for example outside at dusk, or at night - which is commonly known as "night blindness". While people without a sight condition can usually fully adapt to dim light in 15 to 30 minutes, those with RP find that it takes them much longer to adapt, or it doesn't happen at all.
As RP progresses, you will start having problems seeing things in your peripheral vision, leaving a central narrow field of vision known as having "tunnel vision". Since RP is a progressive condition, it means your vision will continue to get worse over the years.
English (US) ·