BBC Strictly's Chris McCausland admits 'I can't feel my legs' just days before live show

Today, Strictly Come Dancing star Chris McCausland told This Morning viewers: "I can't feel my legs, it's killing me." It comes as he struggles with this week's fast-paced dance routine for the BBC show.

The comedian appeared on the ITV daytime favourite alongside his pro partner Dianne Buswell, as they revealed that they were working on a Jive for this week's live shows - which Chris has found difficult.

On Thursday's (October 3) programme, Chris had been commended by hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, who both hailed him for his efforts and good humour on the glitzy BBC programme. Digging to see what was to come this week, the former Good Morning Britain presenter asked: "What are you working on this week?"

Dianne interjected: "It's a Jive, so it's very fast." Chris then chimed in with his own views on how the rigorous routines had taken their toll on his body.

Chris was 22 when he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary condition that causes progressive vision loss due to the degeneration of cells in the retina. This rare eye disease slowly diminishes the retina's function, leading to a gradual loss of sight.

As the funnyman is unable to see, Ben sympathised that taking part in Strictly must also be "mentally draining" when trying to learn the tricky steps just by listening to instructions, instead of watching like everyone else.

"It's mentally draining. There's a lot of description and sometimes I have to get onto my hands and knees and feel what her [Dianne's] feet are doing," explained Chris.

He joked: "She [Dianne] has got muscles in the lower part of her legs that I didn't even know existed. Sometimes as well, she gets on her hands and knees and just picks my leg up and puts it where she wants. It's like I'm one of those bendy Spiderman figures."

The TV personality went on to explain: "There's a lot of that but there are so many things to concentrate on in terms of, I find it difficult to tell my arms what to do, when I'm trying to tell my legs what to do."

"It's like I have a little junction box in the middle and it says do you want to send this to the legs or the arms. And if it goes to the legs my arms are just flopping about the place," said Chris.

Dianne was keen to alert viewers to how far they had come, offering: "Yeah, but we're getting there aren't we?" Chris then shot back with: "But every week we start from scratch, I can't feel my legs, they are killing me."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the programme, Chris opened up on his daughter not wanting him to sign up to Strictly after she feared her dad would "break his leg". Ben wanted to know how Chris' family and friends reacted to the news he was going to take part in Strictly.

Chris confirmed: "Everyone I knew said, 'How are you going to do that?'" He continued: "Even my daughter said to me, 'No, daddy, you'll fall off the stage and break your leg.'" This caused an eruption of laughter around the studio.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITVX.