Chris McCausland’s journey from salesman to Strictly final winner

McCausland was born in 1977 in Liverpool, but moved to south-west London in the mid-1990s to study software engineering at Kingston University.

After graduating, he became a software developer, but had to change careers when his eyesight deteriorated.

He told the i newspaper, external in 2023 that he had lost his sight completely by the age of 22, from a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which his grandmother and mother also had.

His condition means the light sensitive cells of his retinas gradually deteriorated until he could no longer see.

“Basically, I’d been going blind very slowly since I was born, and so didn’t even really notice it happening – like the frog in the pan of boiling water,” he said.

His next job was in sales, which was “really boring stuff” and “just filling the time until I figured out what I properly wanted to do”, he told the Liverpool Echo, external in 2016.

The turning point came when McCausland was 26.

“I got shingles and was signed off from work for two weeks,” he said.

“I was bored out of my head and as a dare from myself I decided to have a go at stand-up.”

That first comedy gig went so well that he got “the stand-up bug”, he said, and he’s been doing it ever since.