BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Dianne Buswell 'fights tears' over reward before Chris McCausland message

Dianne Buswell appeared emotional as she was seemingly handed a reward for her work on Strictly Come Dancing before issuing a message about her and Chris McCausland's latest performance.

The Australian dancer has been winning praise for her partnership with comedian Chris, who is the BBC One dance contest's first-ever blind contestant', ever since they performed their first routine together back in September.

The pair made it through to week nine of the hit show which aired on Saturday night (November 16) live from Blackpool. The annual special, which sees the whole cast and crew relocate to the seaside town for one weekend only, was once again broadcast from the Tower Ballroom.

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Chris and Dianne were the first of the eight couples to make it through to week nine of Strictly's 20th-anniversary series to take to the world-famous ballroom floor.

They kicked the epic night of dancing off by delivering a classical American smooth routine to Canadian-born singer Paul Anka’s Jump that earned them their first 10s of the series Head judge Shirley Ballas told black tie-wearing Chris that he had the "best feet I’ve seen in a long time", and "didn’t miss a beat".

Anton Du Beke said "if anyone can beat that tonight, I’d be amazed", before they earned 37 points from the judges, as co-host Tess Daly revealed they were the 100th Strictly couple to perform in Blackpool.

It was also revealed that Chris' mother, father and sister were watching him in the audience and it all became too much as Dianne became emotional as they received their highest score of the series, hopefully taking them one step closer to performing in front of her mum and dad as they prepare for their visit from Australia.

It came after she shared a picture of a glass trophy she had seemingly received from fans of the show they had met while in Blackpool. A glitterball with 'dance' through it had been etched on the front with a dedication at the bottom which read: "Dianne Buswell. Best Dance Teacher SCD 2024." Alongside the post on her Instagram Story, Dianne wrote: "Thank you," alongside a face holding back tears emoji and string of red love hearts.

Following the show, Dianne posted an adorable picture of herself and Chris cuddled up in the Tower Ballroom during rehearsals in front of the amazing stage. "No one is safe and nothing is guaranteed," she started to type alongside the photo. "Please help us continue this amazing exeprience together," she added with all the voting information viewers needed.

She also shared a string of sweet photos of the pair from the night itself and said: "Blackpool [red heart emoji]. The last pic just sums it up perfectly." The last picture was screenshot of a message in which the posted described everything that Chris couldn't experience like his fellow competitors.

The message then ended: "Yet without seeing with his eyes, somehow he sees. He understands the spirit of the show and reads Dianne so well. Whatever happens, he is a winner. So happy he got a 10."