Strictly: Moment Chris McCausland is crowned 2024 winner
Chris McCausland claimed Strictly Come Dancing victory on Saturday night (December 14) as the first ever blind contestant to win the BBC show.
The 47-year-old and partner Dianne Buswell lifted the Glitterball trophy on Saturday night following a public vote, as the BBC show celebrated 20 years on screen this year.
They beat actress Sarah Hadland and partner Vito Coppola, Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and dancer Aljaz Skorjanec and JLS singer JB Gill with Lauren Oakley.
However, a critic took to X on Saturday and blasted the show's final result, claiming the "worst dancer" had been crowned Strictly champion.
They fumed: "Worst dancer won again so won't be watching next year and yes I know it was the public and not blaming you for that. I would be interested to know how you feel about someone winning just because they were blind?"
Strictly's head judge Shirley Ballas penned a moving response as she reacted to the viewer's claim.
In view of her 100,000 followers, she penned: "I have total respect for the viewers opinions. Millions voted and everyone has their favorites. For me, they all danced simply brilliant. A huge congratulations to our winners. All our finalists and to all who took part. I’m waking up feeling happy. Have a beautiful day."
Viewers flocked to comment on the viewers criticism as one penned: "That is totally unfair! He didn't get the sympathy vote - Chris and Dianne earned that glitter ball, through hard work and I thought they were excellent."
Another tweeted: "It isn't just because he was blind. He was actually a good dancer, incredible how he did learn, and Dianne must have had a really hard task teaching him. They were all great, I would have been happy for any one of them to win."
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A third penned: "He didn’t win because he’s blind, he won because he was a complete novice to dance, he couldn’t even be shown the moves or be taught in the normal way. What him and Dianne achieved is pretty unimaginable and I for one am in awe of what they achieved…"
After being announced as the winner, Chris said: "This is for her (Dianne) and it's for everyone out there that thought and got told they couldn't do something.
"It just shows with opportunity and support and determination, anything can happen."
He also thanked Dianne, saying: "She deserves this so much. She's just honestly one of the easiest people to be funny with - and unless she changes her number, she's stuck with me."
