Chris McCausland’s devastating diagnosis that left him blind aged 22

Born in 1977 in Liverpool, Chris went on to study software engineering but after a stint as a web developer, he worked in sales for several years, during which time he started performing stand-up comedy.

He then put on shows at the Edinburgh Festival before appearing in a string of comedy panel shows.  

The comedian then also appeared as market trader Rudi in Me Too!, which aired from 2006 until 2016.

Chris was 22 when he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary condition that causes progressive vision loss due to the degeneration of cells in the retina.

This rare eye disease slowly diminishes the retina’s function, leading to a gradual loss of sight.

He previously spoke about the condition with the i newspaper and how others in his family were also affected.

‘My grandmother had it, and my mum. Basically, I’d been going blind very slowly since I was born, and so didn’t even really notice it happening,’ he said.

Chris also explained how being blind impacted his other senses.

‘They say that when you lose your sight, your hearing gets better. It doesn’t. But you do pay more attention to it. So, when you’re sat at a beach resort, and you’re hot, and you can’t see what’s around you, then you just end up concentrating on how hot you actually are. I suffer more for it,’ he said.

Ahead of the show’s premiere, Chris also said being on Strictly was both a challenge for himself and Dianne, who has never taught someone who is blind.

‘We’re just gonna have to figure it out as we go along. The production team are just being really flexible. My dance partner is figuring out how to teach me. And we are winging it. That’s the best way I think,’ he said.

Although producers initially offered to have a representative from an organisation teaching people with visual impairments help coordinate training between him and Dianne, he ‘didn’t like the idea’ and instead chose to ‘blunder’ his way through training.

‘In my opinion, the point of it is for my partner to learn how to teach me and me to learn a dance from her and that’s for us to figure it out together. We’ll make mistakes and we’ll have a laugh along the way and that’ll make for better VTs in the week, really,’ he added.

How much is he still able to see?

When appearing on Scared of the Dark last year Chris also spoke about how he is able to ‘still see light and space’ and possesses ‘an awareness of the space around me, not in terms of objects and things, but in terms of the room and whether there might be something in front of me’.

Reflecting on losing his sight, he also shared: ‘Yes it was painful. I haven’t been able to see for 20 years. When it started happening it was scary and embarrassing.’

‘I got myself into bad situations because I didn’t want to ask for help. I will never be on a level playing field with everyone else.’

Despite the obstacles, Chris and Dianne were given an impressive score of 23 from the Strictly judges after their cha cha cha on Saturday’s live show.

However, he did once admit he believed being on the show was unlikely.

‘I didn’t think I could do it because I literally couldn’t see what’s expected of me. And because I don’t watch it, I don’t have an attachment to the format,’ he said.

‘But I’d rather do something I had no knowledge of than make a show I knew everything about. I’m good at making comedy out of failure, but I’m going to take this seriously.’