Chris McCausland is losing his grip on the Glitterball trophy-Adam Miller-Entertainment – Metro

Until now, Chris has been the runaway favourite to win this series, and rightly so (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

Chris McCausland is the best thing to happen to Strictly Come Dancing.

Before the first live show of the series, admittedly, he wasn’t on my radar as one to watch which in hindsight is a pretty embarrassing misfire.

Chris is the first ever blind contestant in Strictly’s 20-year history but no one could have possibly anticipated just how magical it would be watching the comedian effortlessly twirl his partner Danna Buswell around the dancefloor, performing tricks few of us with our sight in tact would ever dare to try.

I love him, and so does the public. So far each week he’s the contestant I’ve been looking forward to watching the most, knowing full well he’s guaranteed to either being a tear to my eye or have me full on sobbing into my Deliveroo.

After Icons Week though, I’m afraid he’s losing his grip on the Glitterball trophy and for the first time this series there’s another contestant I’m more excited to watch.

Sarah Hadland may have delivered one of my favourite Strictly Come Dancing performances of all time last Saturday with her Cha Cha to Like A Prayer.

Granted, she was dressed as Madonna which is basically catnip for homosexuals like me so I was sold before she taken her first step, but from the moment she leapt off a five foot platform into the arms of Vito Coppola with total care-free abandon I was mesmerised.

It’s the first performance of the series I’ve watched again and again, each time impressed by something new. Vito threw Sarah around like a defunct rag doll with perfect posture, her feet moved with lightning precision and it was by far the most electric and – I say this as someone with zero expertise – surely the most difficult routine of the series so far. It was so good I barely even noticed Vito in latex trousers which is some doing.

Sarah Hadland delivered one of my favourite Strictly performances of all time (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy)

The judges agreed, awarding Sarah with three nines and a 10, which still feels like a criminal underscore.

Tonight she’ll be dancing for the Miranda fans, performing an American Smooth to Heather Small’s Proud, the anthem her character Stevie would spontaneously sing throughout the series.

I am not a Miranda fan, but it was hard to escape the excitement from fans who clearly found Stevie’s live, laugh, love humour much funnier than I did on social media.  

But you don’t need to be a Miranda fan to have been completely bowled over by Sarah. If anything, my internalised Mirandaphobia meant I didn’t pay Sarah the attention she deserved until the last few weeks, but I concede that I am the fool who’s been missing out.

The best Strictly winners are always the ones who have been through the greatest journey, the ones who started off no better than fine. You might see them at a wedding and joke ‘kept those moves a secret’ but you wouldn’t push them to sign up for a ballroom dancing contest.

Granted, Sarah started off stronger than a tipsy wedding guest but she is almost an unrecognisable dancer now to when she performed the Quickstep to 9 to 5 in week one. Even then though she was fun, had buckets full of energy and clearly had the potential to be one to watch.

But her Cha Cha last week was full of sass, skill and sex appeal I’m not sure Sarah even knew she had seven weeks ago. There’s a confidence now which, as long as it doesn’t get broken, could well see Sarah improve ten-fold week on week and sail through to the final to take home the Glitterball trophy.

Until now, Chris has been the runaway favourite to win this series, and rightly so. In one week of Strictly he achieved more than most contestants could ever imagine, completely transforming the perception of what the blind community is capable of in one Cha Cha.

Chris will always be the heart of this year’s Strictly for so many reasons (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

The following week Chris has me and many others in tears with his Foxtrot because watching Chris dance – and I’m aware how extreme this sounds – it felt like watching a miracle. I still cannot grasp how he manages to be one of the strongest dancers each week regardless of his sight and his partnership with Dianne Buswell feels like the material for a 90s buddy movie.

Chris will always be the heart of this year’s Strictly for so many reasons but his competition is closing in and actually Sarah is suddenly emerging as the worthy winner.

Tasha Ghouri is clearly the most accomplished dancer and I’m not part of the camp who likes to whinges about ‘previous dance experience’ but I do want to back an underdog and that is not Tasha.

Rightly or wrongly, Wynne has fallen out of the race since his weird ‘joke’ where he touched Katya Jones was apparently taken the wrong way and JB Gill danced better when he was on the X Factor.

In an ideal world Montell Douglas would reach the final like she deserves alongside Chris and Sarah but as we’ve seen over in the United States this week, more often than not the public can’t be trusted with a vote. And if reports ae to be believed, this series is going to be Johannes Radebe’s last and he deserves to bow out with one of his best partners yet and in the final.

At this stage I can’t see anyone else breaking through and suddenly come close to winning, but just a week ago I would never have imagined anyone other than Chris lifting that Glitterball trophy. Sadly, he’s inching closer to the bottom of the leaderboard and while he’s still a total gift to Strictly, Sarah is just becoming a little bit more of a reason to be excited.

Now I’d go as far and say this contest is Sarah’s for the taking – and I can’t see there’s anyone standing in her way.

Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.35pm on BBC One.

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