Strictly Come Dancing viewers were left stunned after Tess Daly made a comment to Chris McCausland that many deemed “embarrassing”.
Chris and his partner Dianne Buswell performed a Quickstep to a tune from Anything Goes for Musicals Week. However, the mood took a turn when Tess said something to Chris and Dianne as they approached her after their dance.
After their successful performance, Chris and Dianne were celebrating when Tess was heard saying to Chris “can you see how happy she is with you”. This comment sparked outrage among fans as Chris is blind due to a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.
Frustrated viewers took to social media to express their thoughts. One wrote: “No Tess, Chris can’t see how happy he made Dianne…… #strictly.”
Another posted: “Surely Tess didn’t just ask Chris ‘can you see how happy she is with you? ‘ #Strictly”, reports the Mirror.
“Tess saying to Chris ‘can you see how happy she is? ‘….um no Tess, he can’t #Strictly,” a third shared, while a fourth commented: “Tess just asked Chris if he could see how happy Diane was….”
A fifth added: “did tess actually just say “can you see how happy she is with you” to chris. a blind man.”
Another wrote: “Did um…did Tess really just ask “can you see how happy she is with you?””
Chris had previously admitted that he was “terrified” to be the first blind contestant on the show.
He weighed up the risks and benefits, explaining to The Guardian: “When you weigh that up, and you stop thinking about yourself so much, and the fact that you’re s***ting your pants, there becomes more benefit than risk.”
In another interview, he discussed his hereditary blindness, telling Big Issue: “Being blind wasn’t just something that happened to me, it was hereditary. Nan was blind, my mum was losing her sight. It was always treated as just part of life, so you get on with it. That’s fed into my way of viewing it.”
However, he admitted that he had previously held onto the hope of a cure, saying: “But I did always think, things are moving so fast, we’ve got the internet now, surely there will be a cure and I’ll be able to see by the time I’m 30. I mean 40. I mean… and it just moves on and on.”
He also spoke about the challenges of gradually losing his sight, stating: “When you’re losing your sight gradually, there’s never a clear moment when you are forced to deal with it. I’d refuse to be associated with things connected to it, like, ‘I’m not using a stick, I’m going to pretend I can see’. But you get into more trouble pretending there’s nothing wrong. It wasn’t until I lost my sight completely that I accepted it.”
Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer