Strictly Come Dancing star 'now favourite to win' but says he doesn't want 'sympathy vote'

Comedian Chris McCausland has wowed viewers with his performances on the dancefloor

Strictly star Chris McCausland is now tipped to be the favourite to win the competition after wowing judges and viewers with his routines. But the blind comic says he wants to be judged on his performances rather than being the "sympathy vote".

His dances with professional partner Dianne Buswell have gone down a storm, with Chris now being tipped to be crowned champion and lift the famous glitterball. The funnyman has a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa which meant he lost his sight in his 20s.

But he's not let his disability hold him back on the dancefloor. Liverpool-born Chris is sure to win over fans again tonight as he’s set to perform an emotional Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone. He admitted things had gone better than expected so far.

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The comic told the Mirror: "I mean, to be honest, every time we get through, I say to Dianne, ‘Oh, I got away with that, didn't I?’ It's certainly gone better than I thought it would, because I had no idea whether I'd be able to do it at all, which is part of my doubt of, and the fear of, doing Strictly.

“That first episode, I mean, to say I was s****ing my pants is an understatement. These last weeks have been hard in terms of energy. I’ve hit a few walls along the way and that's to be expected for a fellow that sits on stool for a living. I suppose you could say that stand up is that thing of feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

“Stand up ultimately becomes a comfort zone, doesn't it? And even though people think it's brave and all that, it just becomes a regular Tuesday. I am the kind of person that will instantly react to something in a way that is like, ‘Oh, you're joking. No way. I can't do that. What? You're having a laugh’.

"It takes me a while for it to settle in my head and for me to process it, you know? I said no to this a few times because I just didn't think I'd be able to do it. I thought it was one step too far."

He adds pointedly: "I don't want to be the sympathy vote. I don't mind being a bad dancer. I don't mind people laughing at me because I'm a comical dancer or a bad dancer, but I didn't want it to be a calamity because I can't see.”

Chris have proved to be far from a calamity so far. He's already performed the jive and the salsa, earning 30 points for both. Australian Dianne has been praised by the judges for not going easy on her dance partner when it comes to her choreography, often including lots of lifts and tricks.

“I've lost weight,” he says. “I don't weigh myself, but I do measure myself around the belly. I think that's a better way of doing it, because otherwise you start going, ‘well, I haven't lost much weight, but muscle weighs more than fat!’. So I just measure my belly, and I've lost a good few inches, but do I feel healthier?

“No! I feel like I've fallen off a horse and been dragged three miles! I’m sure at the end of this, when I have two weeks to recover, I will probably feel the fittest I’ve felt in a while. But at the minute, it's quite a lot.”

Laughing, he adds: “I was in the studio and I had 10 minutes and I just laid on the hard floor. In no other circumstance of life would a hard, cold floor, be comfortable. But such is the punishment you put your body through doing this the pressure of the floor is almost more comfortable than just existing normally!”