Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland has been writing about his life for new book – including a mugging at knifepoint – after he was targeted by a violent theif
Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland has told how he suffered a terrifying knife mugging as a youngster.
The actor and stand up comedian, 48, won Strictly last year and has written a new autobiography. And in it looking back on his teenage years he recalls one scary incident in Liverpool.
Writing in his new book blind Chris says: “Throughout my childhood and my youth, my parents had never once tried to restrict me out of concern for injury or incident. They always just encouraged me to engage with the world as any other child or teenager might.
“I was very lucky that my parents were able to not let their own fears restrict my engagement with the world and ultimately limit my experiences, because 30-plus years on, those experiences mean the world to me. Yeah, even getting mugged at knifepoint.”
Chris, blind due to a genetic disorder, says he was with best friend Neil on a night out and tried to walk on past two men to trick them by speeding up and not stopping but ending up in a headlock in a doorway of a shop.
He said: “Both of them pressed flick knives into my stomach as a threat that didn’t really need much in the way of explanation. ‘Money,’ one of the under-achieving bastards said. ‘Okay, okay,’ I said, and then, in a stroke of spontaneous genius, surprising bravery or complete idiocy, I tried to fob them off with just loose change that I had in my pocket.
“I don’t really know what I was thinking. I scooped out a small handful of change that must have totalled no more than a couple of quid. ‘Here,’ I said, offering it upwards to the two hefty losers. ‘Nice try. We just followed you from the cash machine,’ one of them said, as they pressed the knives a little harder. S**t.
“I needed to come up with something quick as I didn’t want them thinking I was taking the piss. ‘I know, I know,’ I said back. ‘I, err, I was getting to that. I just wanted to make sure that you got everything.’ I pulled out the two folded notes from that little ticket pocket in my jeans and handed them over. ‘Hey!’ shouted a lady from behind. ‘That lad’s getting mugged!’ And with that the two pathetic scumbags ran off down towards the backstreets of Liverpool with a whole thirty quid between them. Saddoes.”
Typical of his personality shown on screen, Chris didn’t let the mugging ruin his day and carried on with his night out sharing his pals’ money.
He also kept quiet about it until now fearing his parents would become overprotective, looking back, he added: “If that had been twenty years later in any city centre up and down the country, they probably would have stuck the knives in anyway, just for sh**s and giggles.
“I don’t think I ever did tell my parents about it, because I didn’t want them to worry about me being out any more than they probably already did. Reading this might be the first they learn of it.
“I know being mugged at knifepoint had nothing to do with my poor eyesight, but I think my concern was that telling my parents might change things.”
Chris also of course talks about his Strictly win in the book. He admits his friends and family did not expect him to do well and none of them bet on him to win. Even his postman did not give him much of a chance when he was rumoured to be taking part.
He writes: “The number-one thing people wanted to know was: how the hell is that going to work? Which didn’t do a great deal to boost my confidence as I still didn’t have a clue. ‘Is it true?’ asked my postman John. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I’m not allowed to publicly acknowledge it but it’s true.’ ‘Bloody hell’ he said. ‘The problem is,’ I explained, ‘that because I can’t see it, I don’t know how good the dancing is that I’ll be expected to do on the show.’ ‘I’m not gonna lie,’ said John, ‘it’s fucking good.’ And with that he thrust a parcel into my hands and was away. Cheers for that, John.”
* Keep Laughing by Chris McCausland is published by Michael Joseph and out now.
