A FORMER Hereford student has been matched with his partner on Strictly Come Dancing after he was announced as the first-ever blind contestant on the show.
Strictly Come Dancing has returned tonight (September 14) for the 2024 series, with the celebrities being partnered up into their couples for the dance competition.
Chris McCausland, an alum of the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, will be participating in the long-running BBC dance competition this year.
Presenter Claudia Winkleman told McCausland that his pairing with Buswell was dreamy, to which he replied joking: “She is absolutely over the moon having me because she really wants November off. You’ve got a holiday booked, haven’t you, so she’s made-up.”
Buswell replied that her mother and father are “coming over” from Australia to watch her on the show in November. She told her celebrity partner: “I am a big fan of yours. I’m so excited and honoured to be your partner."
McCausland said: “We’re going to figure it out together. We’re going to make mistakes and have a laugh about them. Then we’re going to turn up here and show you all of the mistakes that we’ve learnt.”
The 47-year-old comedian, originally from Liverpool, lost his eyesight in his early 20s as a result of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary condition. This diagnosis prompted a career change from his previous job in web development to become a comedian.
McCausland studied at the college and even returned in 2022 to mark its 105th anniversary with a show at the Courtyard in Hereford.
He is known to television audiences for his role as Rudi in the CBeebies show Me Too, and regularly appears at comedy venues around the UK, including the Comedy Store.
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Previously, McCausland has said he was not sure if he could do the competition “logistically”.
He added that he “didn’t know any of the dances”, as he is not able to watch the show, and he was unsure what he was getting himself into.
McCausland said that he had to get “the jokes” in early, as he will be gone in “three weeks”.
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