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Strictly Come Dancing fans were left speechless by Chris McCausland’s week four performance.
The comedian, 47, who is the show’s first blind contestant, performed a Salsa to “Down Under” by Men at Work with his professional partner Dianne Buswell on Saturday night (12 October).
McCausland’s routine included a series of impressive lifts, which were praised by the Strictly judges and fans at home alike.
Head judge Shirley Ballas was lost for words at the end of the comedian’s performance. “I can’t even imagine how you managed to do that so flawlessly when you can’t see,” she said.
“On top of that, you kept to your music, you didn’t miss a beat. I’m telling you from my heart, that is absolutely impressive.”
Strictly viewers on X/Twitter were similarly dazzled by McCausland’s complex choreography. “Dianne is working so hard for Chris and she’s performing miracles…those lifts,” one person wrote.
“Please keep him in the competition he is AWESOME,” another fan begged.
Meanwhile, a third viewer added: “Chris and Dianne are just an absolutely magic couple aren’t they. I’m just left speechless every single week. Those lifts were absolutely incredible. I cannot believe how good that dance was.”
After the judges’ scores, McCausland flew straight to the top half of the leaderboard with a total of 30 points after recieving six from Craig Revel Horwood and eight points each from the remaining three judges.
“I didn’t know what salsa was last week,” the comedian said after his performance, joking he thought the word only referred to the condiment.
The comedian previously told The Independent that he and Buswell are “winging it” when it comes to their training technique.
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“We’re just gonna have to figure it out as we go along,” he said.
“The production team are just being really flexible. My dance partner is figuring out how to teach me. And we are winging it. That’s the best way I think.”
It comes shortly after McCausland addressed the backlash surrounding comments made by eliminated Strictly Come Dancing star Toyah Willcox this week.
Willcox, who was the second contestant to be knocked out of the competition said her words of wisdom for the celebrities still on the show were: “If you don’t wanna do a dance off, get rid of Chris!”
While it’s clear that Willcox was aiming to complement McCausland for his dancing skills and popularity among Strictly fans, the comments backfired among viewers who said the remark was “uncalled for” and “mean”.
However, McCausland has since defended Willcox online, saying that the singer has been “nothing but beautiful and supportive” during their few weeks together on the dancing competition.
“What she said on It Takes Two was funny and an incredible bloody compliment,” he said.
