Judges praise Chris McCausland's Strictly debut

Chris McCausland finished up in the top half of the leaderboard in his first week on Strictly Come Dancing.

The comedian and his partner Dianne Buswell were awarded 23 points by the judges last night, placing them joint 6th out of 15 couples 

The Liverpudlian, who is the show’s first blind, contestant, performed the cha-cha to the Beatles’ Twist And Shout

‘It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in my entire life,’ judge Anton Du Beke said, awarding seven points and calling it: ‘Just brilliant.’

Shirley Ballas, who gave the couple six points, added: "I didn’t know what to expect… you had great skills listening to your partner. I’m quite shocked and very emotional.’

Motsi Mabuse also gave six points, but ‘bad guy’ judge Craig Revel Horwood awarded just four, criticising the comic’s technical skills. He said: ‘The shoulders, unfortunately… your neck was lurching forward. You were picking up your feet way too much. There was not a straight leg in the building.’

After their dance, McCausland joked: ‘It's like someone's just sucked all the fun out of dancing and replaced it with terms and conditions. You gotta keep your legs straight, your toes out, your shoulders back, your arms straight. You’ve gotta point your finger out there for some reason. 

’It took me two weeks to do it with my mouth shut!'

Buswell praised her partner saying: ‘He's a very funny guy, but he is such a hard worker. Honestly… To the point I had to keep adding stuff.’

The comedian also revealed the pro ‘kicked me in the head one day’ during rehearsals, adding the incident dispelled ‘any doubt that I had more sight than I was letting on – I did not avoid or anticipate it.  I took a foot right in the face.’

In his prerecorded intro,  McCausland explained: ‘If there was no dancing on this show, I’d be fine.’

He added: 'Working with Dianne, her energy never wavers. She’s really really patient and she’s definitely bringing the best out of me. It’s a good partnership and I couldn’t be happier."

Here’s the full Strictly leaderboard after week one:

1. JB Gill and Amy Dowden (7+8+8+8) = 31
2= Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec (8+8+7+7) = 30
2= Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola (8+8+7+7) = 30
4= Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe (6+7+6+7) = 26
4= Wynne Evans and Katya Jones (6+6+7+7) = 26
6= Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell (4+6+6+7) = 23
6= Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin (6+6+6+5) = 23
6= Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova (5+6+6+6) = 23
6=  Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas (6+6+5+6) = 23
10. Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu (4+6+5+6) = 21
11. Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez (4+5+5+5) = 19
12. Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk (3+5+5+5) = 18
13= Paul Merson and Karen Hauer (2+4+5+6) = 17
13= Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał (4+5+3+5) = 17
15. Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones (2+4+2+4) = 12

Published: 22 Sep 2024