He said: “You’ve got to do things haven’t you? If there’s something that’s scary, what is the worst that can happen? I came into this thinking it could be a bit of a disaster. But, there we are. If I’m honest, I’m surprising myself as well as everybody else.”

Chris went on to explain that he had been “asked to do Strictly a few times and I said no because I was scared of it, to be honest”.

“I realised, for me to not do this is quite selfish,” he explained, “because I’m lucky enough to get myself to a position where I have the opportunity to represent people.

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“It’s not that people with disabilities need inspiring or they need to see themselves on the telly, but I think everybody else does.”

Chris said that he wanted people to realise from his appearance on the show that, for disabled people, “more is possible than you would think”.

Chris and Diane’s dance was a big hit with both the studio audience and the judges, who awarded them 33 points, landing them in joint fifth place on the leaderboard, along with Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola.

Craig Revel Horwood told Chris that he really does “not know how you are doing this”, while Motsi Mabuse noted that everyone outside of the show is speaking about Chris.

“It’s just this message outside of the show that is so much bigger,” she said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays on BBC One and iPlayer.

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