Strictly's Chris McCausland struggling to hear Dianne over crowd in studio
McCausland and Strictly pro Dianne Buswell gave an insight into their rehearsal techniques as they prepare for the first live show.
Strictly Come Dancing 2024 contestant Chris McCausland has opened up about struggles he faced during the launch show, which aired for viewers over the weekend.
McCausland was paired with Dianne Buswell during the Strictly launch, with the comedian cracking jokes and taking to the dance floor for the first time as the celebrity contestants and their pairs performed a group routine.
In a new interview with Radio Times magazine, McCausland, who is blind, revealed that he as unable to hear over the studio audience and thus was unable to place where Dianne was.
He explained: "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."
Buswell noted that when in the rehearsal room, Chris is able to "hear her breath", allowing him to know where exactly she is, but was unable to do that during the launch show.
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"When we're practising, I can hear you moving around me," the comedian said. "Do you know what I mean? But in the room, I lost all of that completely."
But McCausland and Buswell will be taking this learning curve in their stride, with the professional dancer explaining that it's been "really interesting" to work out how to teach McCausland as the show continues.
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She continued: "They're things that we're going to have to work on and understand as we go along. Because that was obviously the first time we've done it with an audience.
"And each week – he could do something really cool in a dance, and the crowd do go crazy. They really enjoy it. It's things like that that we need to be aware of, and work it out as we go along."
Buswell admitted that she sees the new way in which she will teach McCausland dance steps as "a bonus" and it will "elevate" her teaching skills.
"I can't just rely on me doing it and somebody copying that," 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."
And the pair are certainly looking forward to getting down on the dance floor each week, with McCausland saying he and Buswell are there "to do this properly".
See more of our interview with Chris and Dianne in this week's Radio Times. On sale from Tuesday 17th September.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 21st September at 7pm on BBC One.
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