Chris McCausland reveals the offer from Strictly bosses he refused
The 47-year-old star from Liverpool made history by becoming the first blind man to appear on the BBC programme.
Ahead of tonight’s show, the star told The One Show’s Clara Amfo and Vernon Kay that bosses were expecting him to struggle on the dancefloor and offered him extra assistance.
Chris McCausland reveals how he turned down extra help on Strictly Come Dancing
Before sharing this revelation, Chris McCausland was asked if the BBC audience had affected his dancing.
Responding to this, he said: “Yes it does, because when you train, I have a sense of Dianne around me and the space around me. But when you get an audience making a lot of noise, it all closes in around you and I can’t really hear Dianne at all. So it makes it very different.”
He added that his first performance on Strictly Come Dancing came with “a lot of nerves” and that he was “worried” that he may not be able to dance.
Because of this, bosses were willing to make some reasonable changes to help him.
He said: “They did offer me and say ‘Would you like us to ask the audience to be quiet while you’re dancing so it doesn’t affect you?'”
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He added that it “was a nice offer” but recalled how he refused the help, telling the presenters: “I’d rather go out in a blaze of glory in two weeks than do eight weeks in silence.”
On Monday, he issued a warning to show bosses, telling presenter Fleur East that his last dance was “horrible”.
He added: “I don’t like going on first and if they put me on first again, we’re going to be having words. My routine went out the window.”