EXCLUSIVE: Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell have sailed through to the Strictly Come Dancing finals – but suffered a slip-up just days before

Dianne Buswell fought back tears as she came to Chris McCausland’s defence during Musicals Week on Strictly Come Dancing. The professional dancer, 35, and the comedian, 47, who is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, blew viewers away with their Quickstep performance which featured other professional dancers joining them on stage.

The duo received some sharp criticism from the judges for their performance to the sound of You’re The Top from Anything Goes and walked away with a combined score of 32.

It comes after Craig Revel-Horwood noted his posture was “hunched” and his “footwork wasn’t together.” Dianne then interrupts and takes the blame, stating, “That was me.”

According to body language expert, Judi James, the comedian’s on-air mistake could have negatively impacted his standing in the competition.

“There was a mistake in their routine, but unexpectedly, when Craig pointed it out, Dianne put her hand up to announce it was her mistake, not Chris’s,” she explained to Express Online on behalf of BetMGM.

Strictly’s Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell are in the final (Image: BBC)

Judi continued: “Chris was only scuppered by one thing, his tie. Gasping for air like a man literally choking, he kept pulling at the tie, but when Claudia [Winkleman] begged him to take it off, he revealed it was somehow stitched into the shirt.

“The amount of work and skill that goes into their routines every week became audible rather than visible when Dianne let rip with a series of screeching screams when they finished their dance.

“Dianne reminded everyone of one simple fact about Chris, which was that he had to learn to stand upright with his head up as he would normally dip his head down. She placed an arm around him in an expression of pride and as Chris acted like a man being throttled with his tie, Dianne broke down in tears as she praised him in the context he deserved.”

Meanwhile, Chris broke down in tears during Sunday night’s results show (December 8) as he found out he had made it through the 2024 final.

Strictly’s Chris McCausland received criticism for his Quickstep (Image: BBC)He and partner Dianne scored 36 out of 40 for their Viennese waltz to Metallica track Nothing Else Matters.

Speaking to host Claudia after finding out they were through, the fan favourite fought back tears, as he admitted: “It’s been emotional,” before thanking viewers and those who had voted for him for “getting on board with what we’ve been doing.”