Strictly's Chris McCausland shows true feelings to Wynne Evans after 'hideous' experience

Standup comic Chris McCausland has successfully reached the ninth week of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing despite admitting that he’s “winging it” because he has never seen the show before. But he describes Strictly’s results shows, where a couple is eliminated every week, as “hideous.”

One elimination that Chris has felt particularly keenly is that of Wynne Evans, whose Charleston to Georges Bizet’s "Les toréadors” saw him and dance partner Katya Jones come to the end of their Strictly story.

Over the course of the past couple of months, Chris has come to count Wynne as a good friend, he says. Writing in the Telegraph, he said: “ I never ever thought I would be able to count a renowned opera singer as a good friend, but Wynne has become just that.”

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Chris added that Wynne has brought a lot more to the show than just an enthusiasm for dancing: “He has entertained and been such a wonderful companion throughout this madness,” he says.

Chris explains that, like him, Wynne threw himself into the competition despite having “zero dance experience” and praised not only Wynne’s performances, but his “dignity in saying goodbye.”

Chris, now 47, lost his sight 25 years ago due to a progressive disease of the eye called retinitis pigmentosa.

He explains that, alongside Strictly pro Dianne Buswell having to develop an entirely new method of teaching him the steps to every dance, he struggles with some of the things he has to wear for the show: “The part of the problem for me is wearing shoes that I’m not used to walking in,” he said. “I can’t feel the floor through the shoes properly.”

Appearing on Channel 4’s Scared of the Dark, Chris described how the hereditary condition limited his vision. He says he no longer sees any detail, but has a general sense of light and dark. He said he has “an awareness of the space around me, not in terms of objects and things, but in terms of the room and whether there might be something in front of me.”

Still, with determination, and Katy’s patient teaching, Chris is becoming one of the standout stars of this year’s Strictly. He says that he doesn’t want to over-stress his blindness: “My attitude has always been to represent by not banging you over the head. I think the best way to represent a disability is to make people forget about it whenever possible. It’s always part of you.”

Strictly is on Saturday, BBC One at 7.05pm; Sunday at 7.20pm