Chris McCausland made Strictly Come Dancing history by becoming the first visually-impaired contestant to win the Glitterball trophy.
The 47 year old stand-up comedian was overcome with emotion as he was announced as the champion of the BBC show on Saturday night (December 14).
Former Strictly professional Brendan Cole, 48, shared his thoughts on Chris’s victory alongside his dance partner Dianne Buswell, 35.
In an exclusive chat with Express Online on behalf of Sky Vegas, Brendan confessed that he was “surprised” to see Chris crowned as the Strictly winner.
“I was, to a point, surprised to see him [Chris McCausland] win, because the dancing was pretty average and generally people do want a good dancer to win,” Brendan said, reports the Express.
“I thought they’re probably going to push it in JB [Gill’s ] direction, because that’s the way the judges have seemed to want it to go throughout the series. I wouldn’t agree with that however, as for me, it had to be Tasha [Ghouri] or Chris [McCausland].”
Brendan added: “I’m pleased in that respect, because in my opinion, they [JB Gill and Lauren Oakley] have not been deserving of the marks they’ve been getting for the most part.”
“Tasha [Ghouri] was the most accomplished dancer. She is the best celeb to ever do the show but she has had a lot of dance training so you kind of expect perfection from her.”
“From a non-dance point of view, Chris is the right one. It’s a lovely story being blind and having to do everything without visually seeing how to learn dancing, it’s quite an amazing thing, he’s done very well.”
Chris, who lost his eyesight due to retinitis pigmentosa, broke new ground on the programme as the first blind contestant ever to win.
After their final dance, Chris was presented with the Glitterball trophy on the show, which he joyfully held aloft with Dianne.
Winners traditionally receive a scaled-down replica of the actual trophy to keep, contrasting the one awarded during the broadcast, which has led to some mild disappointment from past victors.
Bill Bailey, the 2020 Strictly champion, amusingly likened the replica he received to the size of a grapefruit. Speaking on Radio X in 2021, he recounted, “A bloke came up to me from Production and asked for the trophy back.”
The comedian elaborated, revealing that winners don’t keep the original, but are instead given a mini version: “You don’t get to keep it. You just, you know, you can hold it, but you don’t keep it. They give you a little one, a little replica one about the size of a grapefruit. So he came over with a black bin bag.”