Strictly Come Dancing followers reward 'genius' transfer as BBC collection returns

Ahhh, it feels good to have Strictly Come Dancing again on our screens, doesn't it?

The long-running and ever-reliable BBC dance competitors returned for its twenty second season on Saturday night time, with 15 well-known faces assembly their dance companions for the primary time.

Paul Merson was instructed that he and Karen Hauer could be dancing to Fats Les' Vindaloo within the first week (as a result of that's true), Craig Revel Horwood unveiled a surprising and flashy new look and, most significantly, the unimaginable Amy Dowden returned to the Strictly line-up.

However amidst all of the glitz and glamour and pleasure, it was the comedy that almost all appealed to viewers at dwelling, with some calling the choice to carry Chris McCausland onto the present “genius.”

The 47-year-old British comic and actor will dance with skilled and standard Dianne Buswell in a bid to develop into the primary ever blind winner of the Glitterball Trophy.

However earlier than the dancing began, Chris made certain the dwell viewers and viewers at dwelling burst out laughing when he used his stand-up comedy abilities to ship a collection of hilarious jokes.

Chris, who has appeared in Have I Bought Information for You, Not Going Out and different BBC comedies, went blind on the age of twenty-two after affected by Retinitis pigmentosa. He has joked that he'd 'by no means seen Strictly earlier than'.

And through Saturday's dwell broadcast, his self-mockery was clearly on show when he mentioned, “I higher get the jokes out of right here proper now, as a result of I'm solely right here for 3 weeks.”

Later, when Dr. Punam Krishnan talked about his participation within the present and his dance with associate Gorka Márquez, Chris joined within the dialogue and joked, “Can I simply say that none of us can imagine we've been put in the identical room as a household physician?”

The solid was in stitches over the commentary and followers cherished the hilarious second, praising the comic on social media.

In X, Mano Billi mentioned Strictly ought to decide a winner 15 weeks upfront due to Chris's opening night time efficiency: 'Chris McCausland ought to win the glitter ball for [the GP joke] solely.'

In the meantime, KDCunliffe praised the BBC for selecting the Cbeebies star to hitch the line-up: 'Whoever had the concept to get Chris McCausland on Strictly Come Dancing this yr – I’ve to say it was an absolute stroke of genius!'

ArtsandGrafts mentioned she wished him to push himself to the restrict on this yr's competitors: 'Chris McCausland is so extremely humorous, I actually hope he wins Strictly.'

LaureLexx agreed: 'Oh it's so good to see Chris McCausland doing effectively on strict already. Humorous, humorous man.'

It was an emotional night time on Saturday as Amy Dowden returned to the collection with an 'empowerment routine' after present process intensive and gruelling remedy for breast most cancers.

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Amy was absent from final yr's competitors after being recognized within the spring of 2023. She underwent a prolonged interval of chemotherapy, which left her unable to bounce sporadically final yr.

She appeared as a part of the group dance initially of the present, earlier than it was later introduced that she could be collaborating with former JLS singer JB Gill.

Strictly Come Dancing is accessible to look at on BBC and iPlayer.

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