Chris McCausland has been crowned winner of the 2024 series of Strictly Come Dancing alongside Dianne Buswell.

Chris and Dianne broke down in tears as the winner was announced, with their co-stars rushing to congratulate them.

After learning he had won the competition, an emotional Chris said: “It’s astonishing.”

Chris was lost for words as he continued: “I don’t know what to say. I honestly thought I would go out in the first week or two. I know no one went out in the first week but I thought I still could. We’ve just lasted and lasted.”

Speaking about his partnership with Dianne, Chris declared: “She’s got so much out of me and she deserves this so much. She is one of the easiest people to be funny with that I’ve ever met.”

Chris was lost for words after learning he had won (Image: BBC)

The Liverpool-born star joked: “Unless she changes her number she’s stuck with me.”

He added: “This is for her and it’s for everyone out there that got told they couldn’t do something or thought they couldn’t do it. It shows that opportunity, support and determination means anything can happen.”

Dianne quipped: “Chris says that this is for me but it’s not for me. It’s for me and you, Chris. We did this together.”

She exclaimed: “We did it!”

Chris performed three dances this evening alongside fellow finalists Tasha Ghouri, JB Gill and Sarah Hadland.

For their Show Dance, which allows each couple to incorporate multiple styles of dance, Chris and Dianne performed to New Radicals’ ‘You Get What You Give’.

The duo also re-performed their Couple’s Choice from Week 8, dancing to Instant Karma (We All Shine On) by John Lennon. Their final dance was the Waltz which was performed to ‘You Will Never Walk Alone’ by Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Chris and Dianne lifted the glitterball trophy (Image: BBC)

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Before the final, Chris failed to earn a perfect score for any of his performances. However, in their final dance of the series, he was awarded four 10s from the judges.

Speaking about the bond he shares with Dianne, Chris said: “It hasn’t really, I think we kind of just hit it off straight away, didn’t we?

“Dianne’s learned a lot about patience. There’s a lot of overlaps in our personality and upbringings. I think you could pick up Dianne’s family and drop them in Liverpool and they would be the same family.”

During the show, Chris and Dianne shared how much it meant to them to get to the final.

“It’s incredible. It’s not something we ever thought would be possible when we started. We’ve surprised ourselves and other people. It’s the biggest surprise that we’ve made it all the way to the end. Reaching the final is the cherry on the cake,” she said.

Chris added: “I feel like we’ve never stayed in the competition above anybody that got higher scores than us, so it feels like we’ve exceeded expectations and got here on our own merits, so we’ve succeeded above and beyond what we expected of ourselves.”