The comedian spoke to the ECHO in an exclusive interview about his Liverpool roots, his Strictly Come Dancing journey and his goals for the season
Chris McCausland still can’t believe just how well he is doing on Strictly Come Dancing. The 47-year-old is the BBC show’s first ever blind contestant and has wowed fans with his incredible performances in the contest, alongside professional partner Dianne Buswell.
His inspiring story has captured the hearts of the nation as the comic has emerged as an early favourite to lift the Glitterball. However, the Scouser is not getting carried away as he laughed he is just happy to still be in the competition. He told the ECHO in an exclusive interview: “When I came into it, I wanted to surprise people, surprise myself and do more than people would think is possible, but that was a pipedream.
“There was a chance that it could be a disaster. There was a very real possibility that I could have gone out in the first round. But it’s worked and that’s not just because of me. It’s worked because Dianne has been willing to take risks and been willing to put the hours in.
“We haven’t tried to pare it back or dumb it down. We’ve really tried to wow people and do impressive things. People have loved it and it’s all worked so far, but it’s surprised me as much as anyone else.”
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The comedian had no idea what he was getting into before the show and admitted it was a leap of faith to take on the challenge. However, facing his fears and confronting them anyway has been a common theme throughout Chris’ career as he first tried stand up as a “dare” to himself.
He said: “I wasn’t a performer, I’d never done drama really and never had any aspirations to perform. But I got the bug and it became a hobby. You put yourself outside of your comfort zone and then that becomes the comfort zone.
“After a while, stand up became the thing I was comfortable at. You still get the tingles of anticipation ahead of a show. You still get nervous from time to time, but it eventually becomes comfortable and feels like just what you do.
“I’ve been very lucky over the last five years that there has been a lot of opportunities that stand up has opened the door to that have been out of my comfort zone and have brought back that feeling of trepidation, and fear of ‘can I do this?'”
Chris, who was born with a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and lost his sight aged 22, puts down his fearless approach to his 1980s West Derby upbringing, which afforded him the independence he needed to make mistakes and learn from them. He told the ECHO: “My sight was never perfect and it was deteriorating, but I could see. I was just in the street all day, there was no being wrapped in cotton wool.
“It was just get out there and do whatever anybody else was doing. Get in trouble running around West Derby. Climbing up the walls into gardens, playing football and getting up to no good. It was such a normal, risk-taking childhood.”
He added: “Back then you had independence in abundance. Because of that you also had interactions with everybody in the street, everybody in the neighbourhood. You knew them because your ball went in the garden. You knew them because you were knocking on their house asking if they wanted their car washing.
“You knew them because they’d tell you to p**s off down the road rather than kicking the ball against the wall. You knew everybody and they all had a sense of humour so you grew up just having a laugh.”
Chris said this community spirit helped foster his own sense of humour, which has gone on to define his life and career. The comedian sees similarities with his story and the city that made him as he said how Liverpool has always been able to bounce back from setbacks to come out fighting and with a smile on its face.
He added: “With Liverpool, you can say it’s been through a lot in its recent history. But it’s always been brought together, in my lifetime, by music, football and comedy. That comedy and that sense of humour has always stuck with me.”
Chris moved to Kingston in London to study Software Engineering and is still based in the capital where he lives with his wife, Patricia, and daughter, Sophie. However, he remains deeply connected to Merseyside and said he wants to fly the flag for Liverpool whenever he can. He said: “You can take the lad out of Liverpool, but you can’t take the Liverpool out of the lad.”
Chris has incorporated his bond to the city into two performances so far by dancing to Twist and Shout by The Beatles and a Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone that stirred the emotions. Liverpool is once again central to tonight’s dance as he is performing the Couple’s Choice to Instant Karma by John Lennon.
He said: “My story is growing up in Liverpool, losing my sight and getting into comedy and then being able to do [Strictly] and represent that more might be possible than what you would have imagined. The song itself is not a sad song, it’s a brilliantly positive, euphoric song.
“The [message of the chorus] says that everybody is as valuable as each other and everybody shines as brightly as the next person. You’ve just got to be kind to yourself and be kind to everybody else. It’s a beautiful message and it’s delivered in a very euphoric, poignant way.”
Chris’ support of the city will no doubt be reciprocated by the people of Merseyside as he has been overwhelmed by the backing he has received so far. The comic is a huge Liverpool FC fan and joked he sneakily tuned out during the dress rehearsals last week to listen in to Liverpool’s 2 – 1 win over Brighton.
He said: “I was sitting in Claudia’s area in the studio and I have to pretend I’m watching people dance on the show. I thought I can’t be a***d doing that now because Liverpool are playing. I had my earphones in and I was sat up there, while someone was doing a dance, listening to LFCTV and Steve Hunter gave me a shout-out on the commentary. I nearly fell off my chair. Just to hear Ste wishing me luck for Strictly that night was lovely.”
Chris said the proudest moment of his journey so far was to be able to do You’ll Never Walk Alone justice as he earned praise from the daughter of legendary Merseybeat singer Gerry Marsden, whose band Gerry and the Pacemakers took the song to number one in the UK. He told the ECHO: “She said her dad would have been emotional and proud to see it. If you get a message like that, then you’ve nailed it, haven’t you? It doesn’t really matter what the judges say.”
Chris made an effort so the performance did not just connect with Liverpool FC fans and was honoured to even receive the seal of approval from rival supporters. He laughed: “You know you’ve done well when you get messages from Everton and Man United fans going, ‘That was actually quite good that. I wanted to hate it, but it was alright.'”
Chris can’t wait to return to the dancefloor tonight for the next chapter of his Strictly journey. However, he lambasted the footballing schedule as the Reds’ fixtures have once again been moved for television, which means his Strictly performance could clash with the match.
He joked: “The show is getting shorter. I’m doing the maths and I think I might miss the first 15 minutes so I’ll be doing the dance with my headphones on.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? I’m very grateful for the support I’ve received from the city of Liverpool, but I do not expect anything I’ve achieved to even come close to people saying, ‘Shall we watch that instead of the football?’ Maybe people will have one eye on each, but it’s unlucky isn’t it?”
However, Chris will be happy to miss all of the Premier League festive run in if it means he stays in the BBC contest. In a career of taking chances, Strictly is the furthest outside of his comfort zone he’s ever ventured. But Chris said this means the payoff is like nothing else he has ever experienced, as he shared the emotional reason why he hopes his remarkable Strictly journey continues.
He said: “I’ve been in here longer than I thought I would be. Everybody goes on about Blackpool, which is next week. Me and Dianne have really had this pipedream of being here the week after Blackpool because her mum and dad are coming from Australia and they haven’t seen her dance live for eight years.
“If we can get through these next two weeks then we’ve hit our goal of her being able to have that moment. This is nothing without her, she has got the most out of me and I think it will be nice if we’re both able to give something to each other.
“If we can get to that moment then stick a fork in me, I’ll be done. But certainly, I’m hoping to stay in this for as long as possible.” Strictly Come Dancing airs tonight on BBC One at 6.35pm.
