BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Chris McCausland addresses 'sympathy' vote and jokes of 'dance prison'

Chris McCausland wasn't sure Strictly Come Dancing would be "worth the risk" as he also addressed people who claim he has been given a 'sympathy' vote during the competition.

The 47-year-old blind comedian has said he is "very proud" to have made the final of the BBC One dance contest alongside his professional partner Dianne Buswell because he was keen to "represent in a positive way" but he was initially concerned about the message it would have sent out if he had proven to be a "terrible" dancer.

Writing in his weekly column for The Telegraph newspaper, Chris reflected: "I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved and how it’s been received, and just the effect that it seems to have had on people’s attitudes towards disability. We’ve had so many lovely messages. And that’s the whole point of being on this show for me – to represent in a positive way, not in a sob-story way.

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"If I’m honest, I didn’t know whether 'Strictly' was worth the risk, because I didn’t know if it was achievable. If I’d been terrible, it would have been no good for anybody – all it would have proved is that somebody with a disability can’t compete. But, with my amazing teacher Dianne by my side, we’ve managed it."

And Chris feels he has earned his place in the final and not just been put through on the "sympathy" vote. He said: "We’ve also made it to the finish line without ever once having less points than the person eliminated, so I don’t feel like we’ve been kept in on sympathy. I’m proud that we’ve deserved our place each week."

As well as his friendship with Dianne, Chris has grown close to a number of the other male