BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Dianne Buswell 'banned from working with Chris McCausland'

Last year's Strictly winners, Dianne Buswell and Chris McCausland, are reportedly "not allowed" to work together during this year's season due to the tight schedule Strictly Come Dancing demands.

The pro dancer and comedian were partnered on the show last year, making history as Chris was the first blind contestant on the show. They eventually won, developing a beautiful friendship along the way. Since then, they have started a podcast together called Winning Isn't Everything, a reference to what Dianne's father told her when she was first paired with Chris.

On Friday (19 September), the day before Strictly's launch show, Chris took to X, formerly known as Twitter to share a worrying update about the podcast. A fan wrote: "Chris!! Your podcast can't be ending, I spend all week wishing it was Thursday. We were robbed with a shorter one too this week."

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Chris responded by sharing that it was, unfortunately, something that could happen. "It's a possibility," he said. "At the minute it doesn't look like Dianne will be allowed to do it through Strictly."

The strictly scheduled is notoriously tight, with couples sometimes spending hours in the rehearsal room. Fans have previously expressed concern for Dianne's wellbeing as they were worried about her putting herself through such a tough schedule given she has recently announced she is pregnant.

The Australian dancer took to social media last week to share that she and partner Joe Sugg - who she danced with on Strictly in 2018 - are expecting their first child together. She is the first person to compete on the show whilst pregnant and is said to be taking the Strictly and all its rehearsals at her own pace with regular breaks.

An insider told the Daily Mail: "There are duty of care and welfare measures in place for everyone working on Strictly. As with all sessions, there will have been regular breaks and rest/warm-up periods, and the rehearsal will have been led by Dianne and tailored to the pace of her and her partner."

For her pregnancy announcement, Dianne and Joe uploaded a video to their social medias. Fittingly set to the Elton John son Tiny Dancer, the two set up a canvas and pretended to paint before swivelling the picture around to reveal a painting of three stick figures. One represented Dianne, with her signature red hair, another represented Joe and a third, much smaller stick figure represented their baby.

The painting also said, "2026" on the top, but this was the only information they gave about the due date. However, Joe did reveal a baby detail in his caption. Along with the video, the YouTuber said: "Our little baby boy we cannot wait to meet you."

Dianne and Joe made it to the final when he appeared on Strictly, but were beaten to the glitterball by Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton, who are also in a relationship now. Dianne has been in the final a total of three times, the third being with EastEnders' Bobby Brazier. However, she has only won the once.

She also won a BAFTA for her most recent series as her waltz to You'll Never Walk Alone with Chris was voted the year's most memorable moment.

The Mirror have contact the BBC for comment.

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