Chris McCausland says Strictly ‘ahead of the curve’ with representation

Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland has said the series is “ahead of the curve” in terms of representation.

The comedian and actor, 48, was the first blind contestant on the BBC dance competition and he went on to take home the glitterball trophy with professional dancer Dianne Buswell last year.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge on Wednesday, McCausland said mainstream representation is moving in the “right direction”.

He said: “We are now at the point where representation across mainstream programme, which is always what I said I wanted, is so marching in the right direction, and Strictly has always been ahead of the curve in that regard, wanting to push boundaries and wanting to represent.”

Despite this, McCausland said he had previously declined to participate in the programme on multiple occasions because he was “terrified” about the wider implications if it did not go well.

He said: “I just thought, if I’m terrible at this, it’s not good for anybody. It’s not good for me, it’s not good for other blind people. It’s not good for social expertise or disability.

“I kept on saying no and they kept on asking. I thought, they obviously want somebody blind to do it, and I knew that I would be good at the other ways of representing.

“I knew that I could do it without a sob story. I knew I could do it with comedy. I knew I could do it in a positive way.

“I also became very aware that I’m quite privileged in I’m being asked because there’s not a lot of options. Let’s be honest, I’m very lucky that I’m in a position where I’ve been given opportunities along the way that have allowed me to build a profile and get me to the level where I would fit their criteria of being well enough known by a big enough number of people to be on the show.

“If I kept on saying no, who else would they ask to do it? And if they ask somebody else and they get somebody else blind on it and they turn up with a sob story and a little violin, or they don’t put the effort in to show that more is possible, I knew that I would be bloody furious that they were representing blinders in a way that I wouldn’t have represented blinders.

“Then I thought, if I know I want blinders representing them, why don’t I bloody do it myself?”

McCausland received a perfect score in the final waltz to Gerry And The Pacemakers’ You’ll Never Walk Alone, beating fellow finalists Miranda actress Sarah Hadland, JLS singer JB Gill and former Love Island star Tasha Ghouri.

Despite describing the first Strictly episode as the “most terrifying thing” he has ever done, he said it was also the “most remarkable thing” he has ever been part of.

The comedian and actor is also a self-proclaimed “tech nerd”, with a new BBC Two documentary, Chris McCausland: Seeing Into The Future, due to come out later this year.

Speaking about the role of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting people with disabilities, he said: “This device (the iPhone) provided me with independence and autonomy on a level I’d never experienced before and now AI is kind of doing the same.

“AI, I think, is now the biggest game changer in accessibility in 2025. It’s not perfect, there’s a long way to go, but it’s already incredible.”