SIX months ago, comic CHRIS McCAUSLAND had never heard the Strictly Come Dancing theme tune.
Now he’s fallen so deeply for the BBC show’s charm, the Liverpool FC fan reckons it is even better than football.
Blind Chris, 47, has amazed viewers with his talent, propelling him from rank outsider to favourite to win on Saturday’s live final.
Speaking to a press conference, he revealed: “Strictly just wasn’t on my radar. The first time I heard the theme tune was in episode one.
“I didn’t watch the show, obviously. I had no emotional connections to it whatsoever. It was other people telling me they thought I should really give this some consideration.
“I’ve really come to appreciate how it matters to people, how it lifts their mood, how it helps people overcome their own issues.
“It’s some people’s football, in a way. I appreciate that now.”
This weekend, Scouser Chris will perform to Liverpool Football Club anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry And The Pacemakers.
He added: “I wouldn’t want to get rid of football. People love it.
“I now appreciate that people love Strictly in the same way. It matters to people.
“When Wynne Evans went out, he said, ‘Look after it for generations to come’. That was a beautiful sentiment and I don’t think I can top that.”
Chris will be up against JLS band member JB Gill, actress Sarah Hadland and former Love Islander Tasha Ghouri for the Glitterball trophy.
In the semi-final, his waltz with partner Dianne Buswell, 35, to Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters won them four nines — their highest score yet.
But Chris never anticipated his success on the dancefloor, saying: “I thought I’ll just figure it out as we’re going along.
“Even the first few episodes, all the way through, I was like, what’s happening, Dianne?
“I didn’t know how that first one would go and I think I exceeded expectations for a lot of people, including myself.
“And then we got the second one done, which was a lot more elegant.
“‘We got away with that, didn’t we?’ is what I kept saying.
“That was like ten, 11 weeks now that I’ve been getting away with it.
“Can you believe it’s been three-and-a-half months? I can’t remember a life before Strictly. It literally feels like this is all I’ve ever done.”
Can you believe it’s been three-and-a-half months? I can’t remember a life before Strictly. It literally feels like this is all I’ve ever done.
Chris McCausland
Chris’s wife Patricia and daughter Sophie, 11, are as shocked as he is.
He added: “The fear was immense. I like a challenge and I like new things.
“But I need to know that I can do good and represent myself and represent other people well.
“My daughter was terrified when I started this. She was so nervous for me, in case I fell over, in case I embarrassed myself.
“As it’s gone on, she’s really got a lot better with it and she’s come to really look forward to it and enjoy it.
“She’d say every Saturday, ‘It doesn’t matter, Daddy, if you go out, because I think you’ve already won’.
“And then when we got to the semi-finals, she said, ‘Daddy, do you know when I said it doesn’t matter? I’ve changed my mind’. She said, ‘I think you can win this thing’.”
On Saturday Chris will also revisit his amazing Couple’s Choice dance to John Lennon’s Instant Karma! — which featured an incredible moment when the studio was plunged into darkness to replicate Chris’s experience of the ballroom.
The pair’s show dance will be to You Get What You Give by New Radicals.
The final will be bittersweet for Chris, who has already begun to imagine what life will be like without Dianne and the dance show.
He said: “We’ve spent so much time together over these last three months. Our last dance is going to be our waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone.
“It’s an emotional song anyway and I just had this little thought of us ending the dance and that being the end of everything we’ve ever done. It just gets me emotional.”
Dianne added: “We had a little wobble. I saw Chris’s eyes glistening over.”
Together they have formed one of the most heartwarming partnerships in the show’s history.
Dianne and Chris have promised to stay in touch, despite them joking about a few training room spats.
Chris told his dance partner: “There’s been times where I’ve had to ask you to keep your mouth shut and give me some space.
“I’d say ‘I need a bit of distance between your voice and my face’. You can’t be in that intensive relationship for months, with deadlines, and not have those little things.
“You have to have the respect for each other to kind of just turn away and then come back with a smile on your face.
“Because it’s intensive, you know it is. It’s hard. There’s deadlines and there’s stress.”
Joking, Dianne said: “He told me I’m heavier than I sound.
“I would like to think I’ve made you a little bit less moany at times.”
Chris said with a laugh: “I’d like to think I’ve made you a little less irritating.
“Unless she changes her number, we’re going to be mates.”
Dianne hit back: “It’s already done, Chris. I’ve already changed it.”
It’s been an incredible experience. It’s been exhausting. And it’s been the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
The pro dancer, who joined Strictly in 2017, has won a new legion of fans by teaching Chris how to dance and creating incredible routines for him.
Chris said: “People say, oh, I feel very lucky to be paired with such and such.
“But I think that whoever is in charge, they knew what they were doing.
“They knew that Dianne would be the best partner for me in terms of her humour, outlook on life, just the similarities between us and her communication.
“I think they just knew how good we would work together, so I’m grateful for that.
“You could probably pick her family up and drop them in where I live in Liverpool and they’d get on fine.
“It feels like we’ve come from very similar places despite being from opposite ends of the world.”
Now Chris is ready to rely on Aussie Dianne one last time for Saturday’s final, where they will perform in front of judges Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.
Win or lose, he will be taking a lot more home with him than just the Glitterball trophy, though.
Chris said: “It’s been an incredible experience. It’s been exhausting.
“And it’s been the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
“But it’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
“And it is the thing that’s going to have the most lasting effect on me in terms of my outlook on the world and life.
“Bananas, innit? It’s been absolutely nuts.”
