Inside Chris McCausland's life as a dad - and terrifying worry for daughter

Comedian Chris McCausland had a profound impact on millions across the nation after joining the line-up of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2024. His addition made him the show's first-ever blind contestant, who then went on to score a trailblazing victory after winning the series alongside pro Dianne Buswell. Throughout the glitzy competition, the 48-year-old moved many to tears as he replicated the dance moves without the use of mirrors or the ability to correct technique by watching back his previous performances.

While quickly becoming a fan favourite, Chris opened up about completely losing his sight at 22 years old, from retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary condition. As a father of one, to his daughter, Sophie, 11, the TV star has made heartbreaking admissions about her inheriting the disease. Chris revealed that his own blindness is genetic and had affected both his mother and grandmother. The actor spoke on the chances and said he and his wife, Patricia, will have to "wait and see" if their daughter has the heartbreaking condition.

The hereditary condition also affected Chris' sister, who inherited retinitis pigmentosa from his mum, who is also blind.

His grandmother and two of his mother's four siblings also had the condition. With a 50/50 chance of passing it on to others, Chris told The Times: "My daughter [Sophie] hasn't got it, so far as we know."

During an appearance on Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast last year, Chris talked about how he and his wife Patricia aren't able to know whether or not she would develop retinitis pigmentosa like him.

Highlighting the struggles to get a diagnosis, he shared: "If the genome was a map of the United Kingdom, they think my problem is maybe somewhere in south west London but they haven't narrowed it down to a specific gene yet.

"But it meant that when my daughter was born we wanted to know whether she would have it and of course, there's just no test there's nothing."

Chris explained: "The analogue tests they do now are a lot more technological, they can check the electrical signals of the optic nerve as you're looking at things and see whether it's as strong as it should be and all these kinds of things, but nothing definitive. It's all just wait and see."

The comedian revealed that this was among the many fears he had about fatherhood as he told Gyles: "I was in such a dilemma about it because I knew I would regret not having kids, but the thought of having kids terrified me.

"You go, 'How am I going to be able to do those things - I'm not going to be a proper dad, I'm going to be a half dad'. That kind of really caused me a lot of torment in my head."

Nevertheless, Chris continued: "Weirdly, I think I wanted a girl because of that, because I figured if we got a girl I could be a loving dad, but some of the practical obligations that fall on dads they'd fall more on Patricia because she'd be a girl.

"There wouldn't be blokes' things that I would then not be able to take my son to. But being a dad has been amazing."