BBC Strictly Come Dancing star 'in denial' about health battle after 'thinking there'd be cure'

Chris McCausland says he was "in denial" about losing his sight as he revealed his "embarrassment" over his health condition. The BBC Strictly Come Dancing star will return to the dancefloor alongside pro partner Dianne Buswell for the Blackpool special tonight.

Ahead of Blackpool, the 47-year-old Strictly star spoke of losing his sight. The star admits he was in “a lot of denial” at the time, when he went blind in his early twenties, and did think there could be a cure.

Chris shared: “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.

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“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. When somebody has a disability that comes out of the blue, it is easy and understandable for parents to be protective and wrap them in cotton wool.

“There’s a worry, there’s a panic, there’s a lack of experience. But having it in the family meant even with me having poor sight in my childhood, I was treated no different, sent out playing in the streets. All that forms your personality when you’re older.”

Chris continued to tell Big Issue: “I’d tell my younger self, don’t be so embarrassed, don’t feel such shame. I lost most of my sight in my late teens and early 20s and with it the ability to see the computer monitor, to see in the dark.

“So I also lost the independence that gives you. At that age, you’ve got this desire to be normal. So there was a lot of denial. 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. Going through that embarrassment and shame toughened me up, though. Which lent itself well to doing stand-up.”