Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland has likely discovered the bittersweet reality behind his Glitterball Trophy victory – he doesn’t actually get to keep the iconic prize.
The comedian soared to first place in the live final alongside dance pro Dianne Buswell.
However, like previous winners, Chris and Dianne will only take home small replicas of the much-coveted Glitterball Trophy.
Strictly Glitterball handed back to BBC
While the triumphant pair posed with the full-sized trophy on Saturday night, previous winners have confirmed that the BBC reclaims it almost immediately.
Instead, Chris will receive a tiny version – dubbed “the size of a grapefruit” by former winner Bill Bailey.
Bill – who won Strictly in 2020 – described the surreal moment when his trophy was whisked away by production staff.
“A bloke came up to me from the production and asked for the trophy back,” he explained on Radio X.
“You don’t get to keep it. You just, you know, you can hold it, but you don’t keep it. They give you a little one, a little replica one about the size of a grapefruit.
“So he came over with a black bin bag. I’m not kidding. Literally, he went: ‘Right, give me that!’ He took it off me, he put it in the black bin bag and said: ‘Right, out! Everyone’s got to be out!’”
Bill’s experience mirrors that of other winners, including McFly star Harry Judd, who won the show in 2011.
“They give you the big Glitterball and then they take it straight off you and give you this tiny little one,” Harry recalled on Sunday Brunch.
Similarly, 2016 winner Ore Oduba revealed he only got seconds with the grand trophy before it was whisked away.
Speaking on This Morning, he said: “I only got five seconds with it to lift it and then they just whisked it off! That was the only time we got to touch it.”
Chris McCausland’s ‘relentless’ Strictly stint
Over the weekend, Chris became the first blind contestant to win Strictly.
In an interview on Lorraine following his win, he opened up about how gruelling his time on the show had been.
“You know, three and a half months of it, as you know, it’s relentless. It’s consuming physically and mentally. It takes its toll and this is what this show does,” Chris admitted.
The comedian has retinitis pigmentosa and began losing his sight in his twenties.
“It wears you down physically and mentally, and then it pokes you with a stick until you’re crying in front of everybody,” he continued. “I mean, it was impossible to hold it in. We were all in tears.”
Despite winning the nation’s hearts – and the Glitterball – Chris also revealed he won’t be participating in the Strictly live tour next year.
He explained that his pre-existing commitments to his Yonks! comedy tour meant he couldn’t join the line-up.
“I started my tour in January this year and I did the first leg until May. We moved the September dates to accommodate Strictly, so we just moved them to January.
“I don’t think anybody thought I would be any good at it. I don’t think they thought it, I don’t think I thought it. In terms of going on tour in January, I didn’t think I’d be going on tour on the back of Strictly. I thought I’d have about two months off.”
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