Runaway favourite

Chris 1/6 to win Strictly but he won't be on live tour due to clash with stand-up gigs

- NICOLA METHVEN

THE bookies' hot favourite to waltz away with the Strictly Come Dancing title will not take part in the show's live tour.

Bookmakers are offering odds of 1/6 on Chris McCausland lifting the glitterball after he scored his first 10s in Blackpool on Saturday.

But, if they are right, the Liverpool-born comedian will become the first winner not to join the tour, which began in 2008.

It starts in January but clashes with his own stand-up tour, which he had already rearranged to be on Strictly.

Chris, 47, who is partnered with Dianne Buswell, refuses to let down thousands of fans with tickets to see him perform all over the UK in January and February.