A Strictly Come Dancing singer has said the journey of comedian Chris McCausland on this year’s show has been “magical” and has tipped him to win the competition.
Hayley Sanderson from Bourne performs on the BBC show as part of the house band and said watching McCausland, who is the show’s first blind contestant, has been “insane”.
He has emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to win this year’s competition after impressing both audiences and judges.
The grand final will be broadcast on Saturday from 18:00 GMT on BBC One and iPlayer.
Ahead of the grand final, Ms Sanderson said: “I think when there’s certain bits of magic going on, like what Chris is doing, or what Rose [Ayling-Ellis] did, and Dianne [Buswell]; what she does with him, it’s crazy. It’s brilliant.”
The singer explained that each week, the musicians are not told who is in the dance off, until they are revealed on camera for the audience. But she has a track record of guessing correctly: “I’ve guessed each week who’s going to be in the dance off, so I don’t know, but I would like Chris to win just because it’s brilliant, isn’t it? What he’s doing, it’s insane, really.”
Each finalist will perform three routines in front of a live audience and the Strictly judges before a public vote.
But Ms Sanderson revealed she does not watch any of the action on the dancefloor as her eyes are locked on David Arch, the show’s musical director and conductor.
“I have to just watch Dave and just concentrate like crazy,” she said.
“He’s brilliant. He’s a genius. I’ve never worked with anyone like him, he’s out of this world. So your eyes are locked to him, because he knows exactly what’s going on at all points.”
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