Comedian Chris McCausland‘s journey to be a national treasure and crowned Strictly Come Dancing champion would be amazing for anyone – but is even more so for him after 25 years of being blind.
Chris, 47, has refused to let his blindness hold him back since he lost his sight completely at the age of 22, due to the hereditary condition Retinitis Pigmentosa.
His success on the UK’s favourite dance show is the latest accolade he has earned himself after a string of achievements in the world of entertainment.
Chris was born in West Derby Village, Liverpool, and studied at the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford due to having the condition which his mother and grandmother had before him.
Before becoming the first ever blind contestant on Strictly, he was perhaps most familiar to TV viewers through his six appearances on satirical current affairs quiz show Have I got News for You between November 2019 and May this year.
He also became widely known as market trader Rudi in the CBeebies show Me Too! which was filmed in 2006, and aired internationally until 2016, and his appearances on panel shows like BBC One’s Would I Lie to You.
But he has gone on to defy the odds with breathtaking dance routines alongside his professional partner Dianne Buswell in the 22nd series of Strictly, earning them the coveted glitter ball in last night’s final.
Away from the spotlight, Liverpool fan Chris lives quietly with psychologist wife Patricia and their daughter Sophie, 11, and dog Dora in a flat in Surbiton, near Kingston upon Thames.
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell hug in joy on the BBC show
Dianne Buswell and Chris McCausland on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing show
Dianne Buswell and Chris McCausland are seen dancing on the BBC show
The couple met back in 2005 when star Chris was performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where Patricia was filming a documentary.
They married in 2012, after he popped the question at a Pearl Jam concert in Hyde Park.
Chris told The Guardian last month that he had only been ‘comfortable in my own skin and happy to be me’ in the last ten years
Admitting it had a lot to do with the birth of his daughter, he said: ‘I think that really changes your outlook on life and yourself.’
Speaking about the impact of sight loss on parenthood, he explained: ‘Whereas being a dad, you can’t just decide to find something else to do. I worried about it a lot, and there’s a lot of slack that my wife picks up, a lot of the logistical stuff.’
Before his showbiz career, Chris had relatively good sight compared to most of his peers at the RNC until it deteriorated rapidly in his twenties.
A biography of him on the College’s website states that his time there ‘equipped him with the skills and confidence to thrive’.
The entry said he had not forgotten his roots at the College and had performed a benefit gig for its 150th anniversary in 2022, raising £6,500
Chris excelled academically at the RNC, tackling A Levels in Maths and Computer Science and an AS in Further Maths.
The couple met back in 2005 when star Chris was performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where Patricia was filming a documentary. They are pictured with the Strictly trophy
They married in 2012, after he popped the question at a Pearl Jam concert in Hyde Park
Chris McCausland and Diane Buswell at an afterparty in Blackpool last month
Chris always acknowledged his ‘wonderful’ maths lecturer Tim Ashmore as ‘the most influential person within my education’ who convinced him to go to university.’
He eventually went on to Kingston University, Surrey, where he graduated with a BSc in Software Engineering in 2000.
Chris started working in web development, but his deteriorating eyesight meant he had to take up a new career in sales.
At around the same time, he first took to the stage as a stand-up comedian in July 2003 at a new act comedy night in Balham, south London.
Within his first year of performing, he won the Jongleurs J2O Last Laugh competition, even though he could not see his audience.
He was also runner up in the Laughing Horse New Act of The Year and third in Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny? competition.
Chris took six stand-up shows to Edinburgh Festival between 2005 and 2012, and in 2011 was awarded the Creative Diversity Award for comedy by a Channel 4-led panel of broadcasters.
He has since gone on to perform stand-up routines at the UK’s top comedy clubs and all over the world, including across Asia and the Middle East,
Other achievements include appearing on the BBC’s Live at the Apollo in January 2018 and hosting the show in 2022.
He appeared in three series of At The Comedy Store in 2008 for Paramount Comedy as well as in the channel’s Comedy Central show in 2010 and 2012.
Chris was born in West Derby Village, Liverpool, and studied at the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford due to having the condition which his mother and grandmother had
Comedian Chris McCausland ‘s journey to be a national treasure and crowned Strictly Come Dancing champion would be amazing for anyone – but is even more so for him after 25 years of being blind
In 2010, he also featured in BBC One’s end of year spoof news review, Unwrapped with Miranda Hart, followed by an appearance in 2011 in ITV’s series Stand-up Hero.
Another of his early TV roles was In 2012, when he appeared in Jimmy Carr’s Comedians Special charity episode of Celebrity Deal or No Deal.
He also fronted a national TV advert for Barclays in 2014, promoting the benefits of their new talking cash machines, and in the same year he starred in the Jimmy McGovern drama series Moving On, alongside Anna Crilly and Neil Fitzmaurice.
Despite his poor eyesight, Chris scored highly in an episode of Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown show in 2020.
He had to play by memory alone, even correctly guessing the difficult end of game ‘Countdown Conundrum’ before the other sighted panellists.
During the show, presenter Jimmy Carr produced blindfolds for the other contestants and encouraged them to try playing without sight.
His other TV work includes an appearance on EastEnders and being alongside fellow comedian Lee Mack in the sitcom Not Going Out.
Channel 4 announced in July 2022 that McCausland would present a four-part travelogue series, provisionally titled The Wonders of the World I Can’t See. The series aired in June and July last year.
In 2023, he was also a contestant in the Channel 4 reality television series Scared of the Dark and on Richard Osman’s House of Games.
This year he featured in an episode of the 13th season of sitcom Not Going Out, and premiered his Saturday morning chatshow The Chris McCausland Show on ITV1.
Chris and Dianne wowed fans in week three of this year’s Strictly by dancing a jive to the ‘Wayne’s World Theme’, scoring 30 points.
The following week they danced a salsa to ‘Down Under’ and again scored 30 points; and in week 5 they danced a waltz to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, earning 35 points.
The couple became the 100th Strictly couple to perform in Blackpool, and did a Charleston and a Viennese Waltz in the semi-finals to cement their finals place.