BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland issues statement on show's live tour after becoming favourite to win

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Chris McCausland has said that he will not be appearing in the show’s live tour next year.

Comedian Chris, 47, who is currently projected by bookies to be this year’s Strictly winner, has now revealed that the live tour clashes with his own UK comedy tour.

The Liverpudlian comedian, who is partnered with professional Dianne Buswell in the dancing competition, is touring the UK from January 2025 until April 2026.

Read more: BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Dianne Buswell shares touching photo of 'magic moment'

However the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour will tour the UK in January and February 2025, with many of the contestants and their professional partners dancing for audiences across the country.

A spokesperson for Chris told The Mirror: “Chris has already shifted the dates of his tour to do Strictly and that wasn’t an easy thing to do.

“There were a lot of disappointed people and it was stressful - we got a lot of messages. So he couldn’t move them again, absolutely not.

“Everyone has been very straight about this all the way along the line. It’s a great shame, because he’d love to do the tour, but Chris is not available.

“He said at the point of signing up that he wouldn’t be able to do it, that it wasn’t going to be possible, it was always clear.

“The lovely thing is no one could have foreseen just how well it was going to go for him on Strictly. No one thought he’d get this far.

“But having already moved his tour dates once to accommodate the show, he is unable to do it again. His own tour was pre-planned and came first. There’s no way it can be moved for a second time, that just wouldn’t be fair on his fans.”

On Saturday’s show in Blackpool, Chris and Dianne scored their first 10s of the series from judges Anton du Beke and Shirley Ballas for their American Smooth, which reduced Dianne to tears of joy.

Shirley told Chris that he had the "best feet I've seen in a long time” while Anton described it as “exquisite” and said he’d be amazed if anyone did better.

This weekend is another big one for Dianne, because her parents have flown in from Australia to be in the audience for their Paso Doble to Manuel Panella's El Gato Montes.

The Strictly Live Tour, which takes place each year, claims to capture “all the joy” of the TV series while also promising to give audiences “the chance to experience everything they love about the TV show live on stage.”

Every Strictly winner since the live tour began in 2008 has appeared on the tour including Tom Chambers, who won in 2008, to the most recent, Ellie Leach.

The first Strictly tour featured a mixture of contestants from the first five series, including series three winner Darren Gough. Other previous winners, including Jill Halfpenny and Mark Ramprakash also appeared on the tour several years after lifting the glitterball trophy.

Betting company Ladbrokes have Chris as the “runaway favourite” to win at 1/6, with Sarah Hadland the nearest challenger at 6/1, and Tasha Ghouri at 14/1.

A Ladbrokes spokesperson said: “Chris McCausland seems to be running away with the competition this year - punters only see one winner.” And William Hill agreed, commenting: “There’s no stopping Chris McCausland - the comedian seems to already have one hand on the glitterball trophy.