Yahoo News BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Dianne Buswell fights back tears over Chris McCausland
Dianne Buswell struggled to fight back tears as she issued a fierce defence to 'constructive criticism' from the judges over her partner Chris McCausland's dance moves. The pair have received massive praise for their incredible routines of the show, with Dianne choreographing routines considerately for the comedian, who is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa.
The duo were joined on the dance floor by other professional dancers for Musicals Week, adding an extra level of difficulty for Chris. Dianne and Chris performed a Quickstep. They were scored 32 points for their dance to the tune of You're The Top from Anything Goes.
Chris received comments about his frame, particularly his right arm, being off. Craig Revel Horwood said: "Your posture suffered in this particular dance...and your weight seemed to be drifting too far forward."
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He added: "The footwork at the end was not right," to which Dianne interjected: "That was me!" Craig sniped back: "You fudged that, well it wasn't together darling."
Addressing the criticism they received, Dianne told Claudia Winkleman: "I am so grateful for [the judge's] constructive criticism" only for Chris to jokingly interject: "I'm not!" Dianne struggled to hold back tears as she continued: "But you mustn't forget, for 20 odd years, Chris's safe space has been down here [looking at the floor].
"So for him to stand up and, it makes me quite emotional, because it is a big thing that we've overcome. And you've done so well!"
Chris previously spoke out about losing his eyesight gradually on the show. He said: "When I was born my eyesight was maybe perfect but it deteriorated very, very steadily until probably my late teens, early 20s when all the useful stuff just went."
He admitted he had been 'scared' to do the show because of his disability, but wanted to show the amazing potential disabled people have. He said: "I was asked to do Strictly a few times and I said no because I was scared of it to be honest. I realised for me not to do this was quite selfish because I'm lucky enough to get myself to a position where I have these opportunities to represent people.
"It's not that people with disabilities need inspiring or they need to see themselves on the telly but everyone else does...it's important to show people that more is possible than you would think."
