Chris McCausland is the perfect antidote to Strictly’s scandals

The BBC’s inquiry into Giovanni Pernice has soured the mood, but this brilliant blind comedian has brought the joy back

Strictly is back on our screens for what should be a triumphant 20th series, but scandal has definitely drained some of the warmth from the Ready Brek glow this dance contest reliably bestows on glum Brits as the cold, dark nights draw in. The first live show on Saturday was watched by a million fewer viewers compared to last year – 6.4 million tuned in against 7.3 million in 2023. Many fans of Giovanni Pernice, the show’s most popular professional and winner of a Bafta for his sublime “silent dance” with deaf competitor, Rose Ayling-Ellis, are boycotting Strictly. They mourn the fact the dancer quit amid allegations of abusive treatment by his partner in the last series, the actress Amanda Abbington. Allegations that Pernice strenuously denies.
Good grief, what a complete Horlicks the BBC has made of this unnecessarily damaging case. The Nuremberg Trials took less time than the internal inquiry. It has been strung out, largely, if my hunch is correct, because the final report exonerates Giovanni. Ever afraid of falling foul of identity politics while bending over backwards to “believe the victim” (however hysterical or unfair), the Beeb is clearly scared it will only fuel the noisy fury of Abbington who has already declared it a “whitewash”. Since she made her complaint, chaperones have been assigned at vast expense to every couple in rehearsal to make sure the “celebrity” is not treated harshly. If you ask me, it’s the professional dancers who need protection from over-tired, egotistical amateurs.
Giovanni Pernice has waited patiently and with considerable dignity to be cleared while it has been open season on his character. From this Saturday, he will be appearing on the Italian version of Strictly, Ballando con Le Stelle. When his partner was announced a couple of weeks ago, it was dismaying to read comments in which Italian viewers reported as fact that Giovanni was kicked off the British show for bad behaviour towards women partners. Through its cowardly delaying tactics, the BBC has both undermined the charming cosiness of the British show and cast doubt over the reputation of its biggest box-office star. I will not be at all surprised if Pernice ends up suing both the BBC and Amanda Abbington.
So, all that means producers had a lot of work to do to restore Strictly’s sunny equilibrium. Casting of the couples has been carefully calculated to deliver the maximum feelgood factor. Amy Dowden, a wonderful Welsh dancer (OK, I’m biased), who is back after a harrowing battle with breast cancer, has been rewarded with JB Gill, of the boyband JLS. JB is already a suspiciously accomplished dancer, thus setting things up for a fairytale “joy through tears” ending.
Not so fast. Perhaps the most unlikely bet to lift this year’s glitterball was the comedian Chris McCausland, who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa 20 years ago, and his partner Dianne Buswell. In fact, as Chris gleefully reported, when Dianne’s Aussie dad commiserated with her over landing a dance partner who couldn’t see, Dianne chirped: “Winning isn’t everything.” It tells you a lot about this couple that they have adopted, Winning Isn’t Everything as their team name. Chris teased Dianne that she was only happy to have him as her partner “because you want November off”.
After Saturday’s performance of the cha-cha-cha to the Beatles’ Twist and Shout, prospects of an early elimination look remote.
If we came prepared to make allowances for the blind guy, we left cheering with surprised delight. Chris performed a complicated lift, jumps, slides and mimed strumming a guitar before Dianne disappeared through his legs. How she had taught him all those steps, let alone oriented him on the huge dancefloor when only brief touches could tell him her whereabouts, is a mystery. But when judge Anton du Beke said “It was one of the most incredible things I’ve seen in my entire life, just brilliant”, it was hard to disagree.
The Liverpudlian McCausland, 47, is amazingly quick-witted and acerbic, perhaps as a shield against unwanted pity. When the curmudgeonly judge Craig Revel Horwood started in on his bad posture, Chris shot back: “I’m too knackered to care, Craig, mate. Give me whatever score you want,” before adding, naughtily, “I’ll drive you home tonight!”
If Strictly needed an antidote to its agonised scandals, here it is. Do check out Dianne and Chris’s daily video diary on Instagram (just Google them); their shared hilarity is infectious and helps ward off that numbing dullness induced by Sir Keir “self-service” Starmer, I find. I really can’t wait to see what they do on Saturday night.