Inside Chris McCausland’s private life including wife Patricia ‘who talked him into Strictly’-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Comedian Chris McCausland has made history on Strictly Come Dancing, becoming the first blind winner of the BBC competition.

The 47-year-old star took home the glitterball trophy on Saturday night with pro partner Dianne Buswell, after winning over the nation’s hearts.

They beat Miranda actress Sarah Hadland and partner Vito Coppola, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and dancer Aljaz Skorjanec and JLS singer JB Gill and partner Lauren Oakley.

After being announced as the winner, Chris said: ‘This is for her (Dianne) and it’s for everyone out there that thought and got told they couldn’t do something.

‘It just shows with opportunity and support and determination, anything can happen.’

And while Dianne has been hugely praised for supporting and teaching Chris, it’s reportedly his wife who he has to thank for talking him into doing the show.

Here’s everything to know about Chris’ private life including his wife Patricia.

Chris and Dianne took home the glitterball trophy on Saturday night (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

Who is Chris McCausland and how did he lose his sight?

Chris’s journey to become the first blind winner of Strictly Come Dancing went from him being a reluctant competitor to a champion of the show.

The Liverpool-born comedian has hosted his own programme on ITV on Saturday mornings and has also featured on panel shows such as Have I Got News For You, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and QI – as well as appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox.

Before taking part in the dancing show, he joked he must be the only contestant to participate in the show who has ‘never watched’ it before, but thought it would be good to be out of his ‘comfort zone’.

Chris lost his sight by the age of 22 (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Chris lost his sight completely by the age of 22 due to retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease which causes gradual degeneration of the retina.

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.

‘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 added.

During an appearance 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.’

The actor – who has been on BBC shows Moving On, Me Too!, Not Going Out and EastEnders – being included in the line-up was quickly welcomed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), but he admitted he turned down the show several times in the past.

Chris previously turned down Strictly (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/Shutterstock)

Who is Chris McCausland’s wife Patricia?

Chris and his wife Patricia met in 2005 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, when she was working as a TV producer for Sky and making a programme about the festival.

According to MailOnline, Chris took Patricia, who was born in Brazil and moved to the UK as a child, to see Pearl Jam perform in London’s Hyde Park in 2010, where he vowed to himself that he’d propose to her if the rockers played Black.

It was in the middle of the gig that Chris did pop the question, and they married in 2012.

Chris and Patricia met in 2005 (Picture: Backgrid)

Chris regards them as ‘opposites’, and said of his wife: ‘She’s full of energy and took me out of my comfort zone, and I think I just make her laugh.

‘I was almost this calming presence in her life that she was attracted to; it was something she didn’t have.’

A source also told the publication: ‘Patricia always has faith in Chris. He was so worried about not doing his absolute best in the contest, but she never doubted his capabilities. 

‘She is very private and does not crave the limelight, but don’t be fooled by her silence – she has been with him every step of the way. She is his rock.’

It’s claimed Chris’ wife talked him into Strictly (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

It’s claimed Patricia was the one who talked Chris into Strictly, while his daughter Sophie, 11, had a very different take.

Adorable reason Chris’ daughter didn’t want him to do Strictly

Ahead of winning Strictly, Chris revealed his daughter Sophie, 11, didn’t want him to take part.

Chris previously shared that he’d turned down the opportunity in the past because it was ‘terrifying’.

But his daughter had a different fear, and was initially ‘nervous’ in case he fell over and ’embarrassed’ himself.

Chris was ‘terrified’ of Strictly in the past (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

Chris said: ‘She was terrified when I started this, because I think she could pick up on my nerves, and I couldn’t hide it.

‘She was so nervous for me, in case I fell over, in case it was embarrassing, in case I embarrassed myself.’ 

Sophie has become Chris’ number one fan though, as he went on: ‘She’d say every Saturday: “It doesn’t matter Daddy if you go out because I think you’ve already won”. 

‘And then it was when we got to the semi-finals she said “Daddy, do you know when I said it doesn’t matter? I’ve changed my mind. I think you can win this thing”.’

Chris previously spoke about his fear of becoming a father, saying, according to MailOnline: ‘The idea of being a parent and all of the things I was going to be unable to do properly, all the things my dad used to do with me as a kid, I thought to myself: “How am I going to do all of those things? I’m not going to be a proper dad; I’ll be a half dad.” And that caused me a lot of torment in my head.’

He initially found parenting ‘really hard’, but made it work and was even able to find a way around not being able to see his daughter.

‘My daughter knows nothing else but me not being able to see,’ Chris said in an interview.

‘She learned that she could point at things for my wife, and she put my hand on things with me. That’s how she learned to communicate with us.’ 

He was also able to ‘bring her image to life’ using AI, as he would take photos of Sophie and use technology to get a description of her, her expression, and what she was doing.

Chris branded Strictly the ‘most rewarding thing’ he’s ever done (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)

As his Strictly journey came to an end, Chris recalled it as the ‘most rewarding thing’ he’s ever done.

‘It’s been exhausting, and it’s been the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but I think it’s certainly been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,’ he added.

‘And it’s probably the thing that’s going to have the most lasting effect on me in terms of my outlook on the world and life and really the opportunities that I have.’

Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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