All of the Strictly finalists are desperate to lift the Glitterball trophy on Saturday evening.
But for the show’s first ever blind contestant Chris McCausland, he has got added pressure – from his 11-year-old daughter Sophie.
The Liverpool-born comic said when he first signed up for the dance contest his child was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of him taking part, but like audiences at home she was quickly won round.
Chris, 47, told Mail Online: ‘She started saying to me that she was really proud of what we’ve done and she’d say every Saturday, ‘It doesn’t matter if you go out Daddy, because I think you’ve already won.’
The TV star’s blindness has not stopped his increasingly technical dances attracting a string of high scores from the Strictly judges over the past 12 weeks.
But his success has now caused his daughter to revise her expectations.
+4
View gallery
+4
View gallery
Chirs will compete against JB Gill, Tasha Ghouri and Sarah Hadland in Strictly’s finale on Saturday night
Last week, Sophie told her father: ‘Daddy, do you know when I said it doesn’t matter? I’ve changed my mind. I think you can win this thing.’
Chris and his dance partner Diane Buswell will dance three routines – a show dance, the couple’s choice, and a Waltz – in Saturday’s last show of the season.
The pair admitted it has been an emotional week as they prepare to say goodbye to the show, with the comedian breaking down in tears during a ‘little wobble’.
Australian professional Diane, 35, said: ‘Yesterday during rehearsals I saw Chris’s eyes glistening over. I said, ‘Are you all right?’ He said: ‘I just had a vision that this will actually be our last dance on Saturday night. It makes me really sad.’ And then he and then he set me off. It will be sad. We’ve spent so much time together over these last three months.’
Chris added: ‘Our last dance is going to be our Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone. It’s an emotional song anyway, and I had this little thought of us ending the dance, and that being the end of everything we’ve done, and it just gets me emotional. I’ve been a mess this whole week.’
‘It’s been an incredible experience. It’s been exhausting, and it’s been the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s certainly been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and it’s the thing that’s gonna have the most lasting effect on me in terms of my outlook on the world and life.’
He added: ‘I can’t remember a life before Strictly. It literally feels like this is all I’ve ever done.’
Competing against Chris for the Strictly trophy are actress Sarah Hadland, JLS boyband singer JB Gill, and reality TV star Tasha Ghouri.
+4
View gallery
The Liverpool-born comic said when he first signed up for the dance contest his child was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of him taking part, but she was quickly won round
Chris said that when he started his ‘fear was immense’ and he had previously turned down the BBC flagship show.
He said: ‘I said no to this a few times because it was terrifying. I don’t mind doing things that are challenging. I like a challenge. I like new things. I’ve been out in the comfort zone, but I need to know that I can do good and represent myself and represent other people well.’
‘There was a huge doubt about that, and that first episode was terrifying, and it’s been terrifying every week, but just in different ways, maybe less so in different weeks.’
‘It’s got a little bit easier on the nerves, but they’ve always been there, and so just being able to know that I can kind of do things that are what you consider to be a little bit paralyzing, really, and a lot more resilience and determination than maybe I thought I even had.’
Chris and Diane have formed a special bond since appearing on the show which has made them firm favourites for the Glitterball, and Chris praised his partnership.
‘I think that whoever is in charge, I think they knew what they were doing, and I think they knew that Diane would be the best partner for me in terms of humour, her outlook on life where she comes from, just the similarities between us and her communication and just I think they just, they knew how good we would work together. And I’m so grateful for that. We hit the ground running.’
+4
View gallery
Chris said that when he started his ‘fear was immense’ and he had previously turned down the BBC flagship show
Chris joked that the pair sometimes had disagreements in rehearsals.
He said: ‘There’s been times where I’ve had to ask you to keep your mouth shut and I’d say, ‘I need some space between your voice and my face.” You can’t be in that intensive relationship between deadlines and not [need a break from each other].’
‘You have to have the respect for each other to kind of just turn away and have a little bit of distance and then come back with a smile on your face, because it’s intensive. It’s hard. There’s deadlines, deadlines, stress.’
Diane added: ‘I would like to think I’ve made you a little bit less moany at times. We’ve both helped each other a lot in this.’
The comedian, who will have fellow stand-up and friend Lee Mack in the audience on the weekend, also said he had a newfound appreciation for Strictly as he had never previously watched the show.
‘I didn’t appreciate it. It wasn’t on the radar. First time I heard the theme tune was in episode one. I didn’t watch the show obviously’
‘I had no emotional connection to it whatsoever. And it was other people telling me that they thought I should really give this some consideration.’
‘I’ve really come to appreciate what it is and the reach it has and how it matters to people. It’s the support we’ve had and the interaction it gets from the people at home, how it matters to people, how it lifts their moods, how it helps people overcome their own issues, just having that, it’s some people’s football in a way.’
‘And I appreciate that now, and I get that. And, you know, I wouldn’t want to get rid of football. People love it, and I appreciate it. People love this in the same way, and it matters to people.’
‘Look after it for generations to come. I think that’s a perfect sentiment.’
