COMEDIAN Chris McCausland is the second celebrity to be officially announced for Strictly Come Dancing.
Chris, 47, joined presenters Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle on ITV‘s This Morning on Monday for the big reveal.
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It comes after Team GB star Tom Dean let slip he was the first Strictly contestant hours after winning Olympic gold, as he confirmed The Sun’s story over the weekend.
Josie and Craig teased clues throughout the show and said there would be a “big sparkly reveal” with not one but TWO celebs being announced live on the show.
The first clue showed the back of a man’s head in the dressing room – with Giles Brandreth branding them a “remarkable” person.
Josie then told viewers: “We can reveal that the first celebrity taking part in this year’s Strictly is Chris McCausland.”
Chris told the hosts: “This is literally the worst kept secret that has ever been in British television.
“It’s been exhausting keeping it a secret when everyone else seems to know.”
Craig said: “The day you come on here and it’s revealed means there is no going back.
“Is there a sense of relief that you’ve just come out to the public? Some of that stress has gone and everyone knows what you are going to be doing for the next three/four months.”
Chris said: “I kept it a secret for so long and then it was in the papers, at least I can admit it rather than going ‘I don’t know what you’re on about’.”
Chris said he was gearing up for training which begins next month.
He added: “Do you know what…I don’t dance, I’ve never danced. I grew up with headbanging and mosh pits.”
Chris has become a favourite on our and is known for his role in the CBeebies show Me Too!.
The TV star is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, which causes poor vision in dim light.
He lost his eye sight when he was 22 and recently said about losing his sight:” 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.
“My eyesight was starting to get very bad at uni, and the technology back then wasn’t what it is now, so I had to get off that particular career path.”
Chris first broke onto the comedy circuit in 2003 after performing stand up in Balham, London.
He regularly appears at comedy venues around the UK, including The Comedy Store and also performed all over the world including Asia and the Middle East.
Chris had six stand-up shows at the Edinburgh Festival from 2005 to 2012 and received the Creative Diversity Award for comedy in 2011.
In February 2023, he was featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Museum of Curiosity.
He returned the following year to the radio for their comedy show Room 101 hosted by Paul Merton.
LINE-UP SO FAR
It comes just days after The Sun revealed that I’m A Celebrity star Sam Quek had signed up for the show.
The former Team GB Hockey star won gold in the Rio Olympics, and went on to launch a presenting career covering the Tokyo Games in 2020 and becoming team captain on A Question of Sport.
A TV insider said: “The show is really tapping into the buzz surrounding the Olympics this year, as well as heavily leaning into BBC talent – perhaps more than ever before.
“But Sam has very much become a star in her own right in recent years, and has been carving out a niche as a presenter.
“She’ll also bring some much-needed glamour to this year’s line-up.”
The Sun exclusively revealed this week that deaf Love Island star Tasha Ghouri, 25, had also signed for Strictly.
Up to that point the line-up of celebrities felt very male dominated as they included Arsenal and England footballer Paul Merson, 56, blind comedian Chris McCausland, 47, EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick, 30, reality TV star Pete Wicks, 37, and DIY SOS host Nick Knowles, 61.
Meanwhile, swimmer Tom Dean, who won the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle on Tuesday night, risked getting himself in hot water with the Beeb.
He confirmed The Sun’s story he had signed for Strictly – but that was ahead of the BBC publicly confirming it.
He said: “Naturally you want to take a break after you’ve had a full Olympic cycle and the opportunity arose.
“I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different. I’ll be doing that and straight back into training after it. It’s something to look forward to.”
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