Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland 'drove wife insane' after being snubbed for show

Strictly Come Dancing star Chris McCausland admits he “drove his wife insane” as he attempted to succeed on a hit comedy show as he rose to stardom.

The comedian started touring on the stand-up circuit in 2003, eventually eyeing up a slot on some of the biggest comedy shows on television. He eventually managed to get a slot on the hit BBC show in 2018.

On the Brydon And podcast with actor Rob Brydon, Chris said he felt the performance went well, only to find his TV work drying up afterwards. He explained: “The evening itself couldn’t have gone better, I smashed it as they say. I was on cloud nine.

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“I did that in September, it was at the very beginning of January, and then nothing else for 18 months. Mock the Week, that was the next step, and they wouldn’t have me.”

Chris believes some of the popular panel shows were hesitant about hiring him because stand-up proves a “very specific skill set”. He says you have to prove you can “banter”.

The Strictly Come Dancing star was finally booked on Would I Lie to You?, which was hosted by Brydon, in October 2019. After his appearance on the show, he says he was booked by Eight out of 10 Cats does Countdown, a show which had previously snubbed the comic.

Chris, who went blind due to a condition called retinitis pigmentosa, says producers felt he would be able to make a joke about his condition, even if he wasn’t very good at Countdown itself. However, the comedian felt it would be funnier if his Countdown skills wowed the audience.

He said: “I think they thought as well that I’m able to make a joke out of being blind, and I’m able to banter and improvise so if he’s rubbish at Countdown, it’ll be really, really funny, I’ll make it funny, there was a faith in me there.

“I thought what would be funnier than my being really rubbish at Countdown? If I was amazing at Countdown, so I drove my wife insane.

“I must have watched 60 or 70 episodes of Countdown, I came up with ways of getting the letters, building the words in my head, doing the maths in my head and I battered everybody. It became really funny because we got the other guys to do a round with a blindfold on.”

The only part of the show Chris couldn’t practise was the Countdown conundrum, which is often a rude word on the comedy edition of the show. But, the comedian managed to guess it correctly during the show, admitting he “nearly had a panic attack” in excitement.

Having won legions of fans on the comedy circuit the 47-year-old is now winning over the nation on Strictly Come Dancing. Performing alongside professional Dianne Buswell, he is currently among the bookies favourites to take home the famous Glitterball trophy.

The duo will be performing the samba to Stayin Alive' by The Bee Gees tonight as the stars return for the Halloween special. Strictly airs at 6.25pm on BBC One.