Chris McCausland was clueless about Strictly Come Dancing before joining the show
Strictly Come Dancing champion Chris McCausland "knew nothing" about the BBC show when he signed up to compete in last year's series, in which he ended up winning with his professional partner Dianne Buswell.
Chris McCausland "knew nothing" about Strictly Come Dancing when he signed up for the show.
The 48-year-old comedian became the first blind contestant on the BBC's Latin and Ballroom competition last year – going on to lift the Glitterball Trophy with his professional partner Dianne Buswell – and confessed that the programme was "not on (his) radar" beforehand.
Speaking on Friday's (31.10.25) episode of The Graham Norton Show, Chris said: "Strictly was not on my radar, I knew nothing about it, and it was so far out of my comfort zone. It was intense and terrifying and because of that, I couldn't be prouder."
McCausland went totally blind at the age of 22 because of a condition called retinitis pigmentosa but explained that he found the loss of his sight surprisingly "interesting" to address in his new memoir Keep Laughing.
The comic said: "There are three distinct things that have happened to me so far – I lost my sight, I became a comedian, and then Strictly, which is such a positive end to the part of my story.
"I thought going blind would be the hardest part to talk about, but I actually found it the most interesting bit. Talking about being a comedian was hard to make original."
Chris previously spoke about the pride he felt in representing disabled people on mainstream TV and hopes he inspires those with physical challenges to realise there are "no limits" in terms of what they can accomplish.
He told the Metro newspaper earlier this year: "It really is an honour to represent those of us with a disability on one of the biggest shows on the telly.
"There are no limits to what we can do. Although, I do have somebody else do the driving on tour."
Chris was struck by the physicality involved on Strictly Come Dancing and expressed surprise that more contestants do not get injured because of the show's "relentless" nature.
He said: "You start like you're an athlete and you're not an athlete.
"It's eight hours a day, six days a week - it's relentless.
"The first few weeks you pick up injuries that relate to the dance you're doing.
"The jive - you feel like you've been on a mule for a week.
"The first time you do a bit of ballroom - your knees take it because you're not used to it. It's amazing more people don't get injured permanently on that show."
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Friday 31st October at 10.40pm.
