Strictly Come Dancing confirms first two contestants including first blind dancer Chris McCausland
Comedian Chris McCausland will make history as the first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing this upcoming season. The popular BBC dance competition, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, announced McCausland's participation, who is known for his role as Rudi in the children's show Me Too!.
The 46-year-old comedian from Liverpool became blind in his early 20s due to a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa. This led to a new career path for McCausland, as he had previously worked in website development before entering the world of entertainment.
McCausland is now part of the show after Rose Ayling-Ellis, who is deaf, became the first deaf contestant to win in 2021 with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice. Their victory was praised for shining a spotlight on the British deaf community and pushing boundaries in dance.
In a conversation from last year, McCausland talked about how disabilities are shown in the media. He told the Observer that the key is to not always focus on the disability. While it's a part of you, it's not all of you. Share it when people are curious, joke about it, but don't let it define you. He believes that it's more effective to have a show where most of it isn't centered around being blind. This way, when you do talk about it, it's more powerful and humorous. McCausland supports having diverse representation in popular culture.
Strictly has revealed their next contestant for the upcoming series, JB Gill from the popular boy band JLS. JB shared his excitement about joining the show, mentioning how he participated in the Strictly Christmas special many years ago and had a great time. He eagerly accepted the offer to join this year's series and is ready to showcase his dancing skills to his former bandmates. Going from farm work in muddy boots to dancing in sequins and glitterballs, JB is fully embracing this new adventure on Strictly.
The 22nd season of Strictly Come Dancing will begin soon, after weeks of controversy surrounding the show's behind-the-scenes procedures. Pernice exited the show amidst accusations about how he taught his partners, after Amanda Abbington also left, despite his public denial of any abusive or threatening conduct. Laura Whitmore, who danced with Pernice in 2016, later came forward with claims of inappropriate behavior and called for a change in the show's culture.
In July, Italian dancer Graziano Di Prima announced he would be leaving Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer while the BBC looked into his behavior on the show. He did not deny kicking TV personality Zara McDermott, with his spokesperson Mark Borkowski saying, "Kicking or any form of violence is never acceptable. Graziano acknowledges he made a mistake and apologized at the time."
Members of the production team have also come forward to talk about how they were treated while working on the show. They have shared their concerns about a work environment that they describe as toxic, citing instances of mistreatment, gender discrimination, and feeling like their complaints were not being taken seriously by the BBC. In response, the BBC stated that they do not believe there is any validity to the allegations of a harmful workplace environment.
