Strictly's Chris McCausland Cha Cha praised as "one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen"
The comedian took to the dance floor with Dianne Buswell.
It was the performance that brought everyone to their feet – and for good reason too as comedian Chris McCausland took to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor for his first Cha Cha.
Dancing with professional partner Dianne Buswell to Twist and Shout by The Beatles, McCausland - who is blind - not only completed the routine with a smile on his face, but also pulled off some pretty epic lifts and moves with Buswell.
After it was finished, the audience were quick to give McCausland a standing ovation and lead judge Shirley Ballas also joined them.
Going over to the judges for their verdicts, Craig Revel Horwood started to deliver some criticism but was once again stopped by Motsi Mabuse who disagreed with some of his points about McCausland's posture and leg placements.
It was clear that both Mabuse and Ballas were more than happy with McCausland's first week performance with Mabuse saying: "I honestly hope you felt the energy in the room because you're the first person that I think that has been on the dancefloor and you gave absolutely everything and I didn't feel the nerves. You brought joy to the room, you brought the Cha Cha – I loved it!"
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Going over to Shirley, she praised McCausland's skill of swinging Buswell through his legs and said: "Actually, I'm quite shocked and very emotional – fabulous."
Anton Du Beke then said: "What do you say? It's one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen in my entire life." He went on to praise the way that McCausland swung Buswell between his legs, admitting it's a move that he himself doesn't "go anywhere near".
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While the performance wasn't the highest-scoring of the night, it did come to a total score of 23 and is certainly room for lots of improvement in the weeks to come. As for now, no couples are saying farewell to the series just yet as the first episode isn't open to the public vote.
Speaking more about his journey of being on Strictly and being blind, McCausland told Radio Times magazine: "In that room the other day, when the crowd goes in there, with the music, I couldn’t even hear you. I had no idea. I was just guessing where you were."
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"When we're practising, I can hear you moving around me," the comedian said about Buswell. "Do you know what I mean? But in the room, I lost all of that completely."
Buswell is merely taking everything in her stride with McCausland as a partner, admitting that she's teaching him the steps as "a bonus" and the process will "elevate" her teaching skills.
She said: "Even moving Chris into the right position so that he gets aware of how he should feel when he's on that foot, or how his arms should feel, or even things he can relate to."
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