There were whoops of joy among BBC bosses when Chris McCausland agreed to sign up to Strictly.
Finally, after years of trying to get a blind contestant, they had their man. And he is hilarious and loveable, to boot.
They thought he would last a few weeks, bringing some much needed fun to the embattled show, which, at the time of Chris’s signing, was still in the middle of the vitriolic row between Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice.
It’s fair to say the scandal had cast a black cloud over the much-loved series.
For Liverpool-born Chris, 47, who hasn’t been able to see since his early 20s when he lost his sight due to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa, it was a big decision.
Would he embarrass himself? Would he be a laughing stock? Most importantly to him though, would he let down the blind community of which he is such a proud member?
As it turned out, he did none of those things. Quite the opposite, in fact, and now, sensationally, he is the runaway favourite to lift the glitter ball trophy in tonight’s finale.
And there is one woman to thank for this: Chris’s beloved wife Patricia. She was the one who persuaded Chris to take part in the programme while his daughter Sophie, 11, took the opposite stand, fearing that her Daddy would hurt himself.
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell performing on Strictly Come Dancing in November
Chris’s beloved wife Patricia, pictured, was the one who persuaded Chris to take part in the programme
Chris (pictured with his dance partner Dianne) is the runaway favourite to lift the glitter ball trophy in tonight’s finale
Patricia will be there, discreetly, in the audience, cheering her husband on.
A friend of the couple tells me: ‘Patricia always has faith in Chris. He was so worried about not doing his absolute best in the contest, but she never doubted his capabilities.
‘She is very private and does not crave the limelight, but don’t be fooled by her silence – she has been with him every step of the way. She is his rock.’
Their love story began when he was a fledgling young stand-up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005.
He met Patricia Mazure, who was born in Brazil but came to the UK as a child, as she was a TV producer for Sky making a programme about the festival.
When the cameras stopped rolling there was an instant connection between them, and they were soon spending more time together back in London.
Romance blossomed and was cemented by a shared love of music. In fact, when Chris took Patricia to see rockers Pearl Jam in London’s Hyde Park in 2010 he vowed to himself that he would propose to her if the band played their favourite song, Black.
They did, and she said yes – right there in the middle of the gig. Three years later, Chris became a father after Patricia gave birth to Sophie.
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell, during last Saturday’s semi final
Being a father wasn’t something Chris was confident he could do. He said: ‘The idea of being a parent and all of the things I was going to be unable to do properly, all the things my dad used to do with me as a kid, I thought to myself: “How am I going to do all of those things? I’m not going to be a proper dad; I’ll be a half dad.” And that caused me a lot of torment in my head.’
But Patricia gave him confidence, and they now live on a new-build private development in Surbiton, south-west London, not far from Kingston University where Chris studied computer engineering.
Friends say that initially Chris found parenthood ‘really hard’, but he soon discovered a way of making it work as a blind father. ‘My daughter knows nothing else but me not being able to see,’ he says.
‘She learned that she could point at things for my wife, and she put my hand on things with me. That’s how she learned to communicate with us.’
The couple married in 2012, and next year will celebrate 20 years together.
Chris says of his wife: ‘We were opposites. I mean, she comes across very British, but she’s Brazilian. I don’t mean this negatively, but her life is chaos in the way that Brazilian people are chaos. It’s a cultural natural attribute they are proud of.
‘The number of times she’ll be talking in Portuguese to her mum, and then I’ll say to her: “Are you OK, what happened? It sounds like you’ve had the most horrific argument.” And it turns out they were just talking about what they’re going to do that day.
‘She’s full of energy and took me out of my comfort zone, and I think I just make her laugh. I was almost this calming presence in her life that she was attracted to; it was something she didn’t have.’
Chris McCausland recently revealed he’s ‘worn down’ ahead of today’s final
Tonight, Chris will take on Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, Miranda actress Sarah Hadland and singer JB Gill in the final.
He owes much of his success to his professional Strictly partner Dianne Buswell, who managed to tailor their training with Chris literally having to feel his way around moves, and picturing how a dance should look through description.
It wasn’t without mishaps, however: early in the series, Chris revealed how the Australian dancer had accidentally kicked him in the face during one training session when he didn’t realise her foot was coming.
Whatever she did, it worked: they haven’t once been in the bottom two (who face a dance-off each week), and with tonight’s vote down to the public – the judges’ scores are not taken into account – they’re tipped to win.
Chris and Dianne will re-perform their Couple’s Choice from week eight, which was danced to Instant Karma (We All Shine On), by John Lennon; and their final dance will be the waltz, with the song choice being poignant given Chris’s Scouse roots – the Liverpool football anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone, by Gerry And The Pacemakers.
The most magical moment was perhaps their American Smooth dance in Blackpool, where a dapper Chris, dressed in white tie, led Dianne with poise and elegance, winning a 37 out of 40 from the judges – their highest score.
Then there was his Wayne’s World performance, where he and Dianne dressed up as characters from the 1992 US comedy movie. The audience was in hysterics.
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell during the dress rehearsal for Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing on December 7
Just as he’s triumphed over his disabilities, Chris has revealed that he’s found a way round not being able to see Sophie.
As a computer engineer, he movingly described how he’d been able to devise a way to ‘bring her image to life’ using AI.
He takes photos of Sophie and uses specialist technology to get a description of her and what she’s doing as well as the expression on her face.
No doubt this technology will be used to capture her reaction when Chris steps onto the Strictly dance floor for the final time.
He told me this week: ‘Sophie has said she is really proud of what we’ve done and she says every Saturday: ‘It doesn’t matter if you go out Daddy, because I think you’ve already won.’ ‘
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