Comedian Chris is at the centre of a TV bidding war (Image: Getty)
star is at the centre of a bidding war with broadcasters desperate to sign his hit comedy tour.
Representatives for Chris confirmed a string of top TV channels are keen to acquire his stand up show Speaky Blinder which was a huge hit in 2022.
The show was described as “engaging, blokey, old-school standup about domesticity, parenthood and the frustrations of modern life is mixed with material specific to the scouse joker’s life as a blind man”.
And now that Chris is tipped to win this year’s dance contest broadcasters have been throwing money at the star to make sure they keep him on the box.
It comes as Chris will head straight out on his Yonks! tour in January – a blow for Strictly fans as he won’t appear on the show’s Live tour.
A source said: “Chris has very quickly become a household name and the public are obsessed.
“He’s favourite to win the show and broadcasters have been trying to find a way to keep him on TV while he heads out on his own tour.
“Speaky Blinder’s final show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire was initially filmed for broadcast on Channel 4.
“And now the rights for it are up for grabs again. By broadcasting that show again, it’s the perfect way to keep Chris on TV. Whoever bags the rights is onto a winner.
“His new tour will also be filmed so broadcasters will want to be in for a chance with broadcasting that as well.”
Don’t miss… [ANNOUNCEMENT]
Chris and dance partner Dianne Buswell are the hot favourites to win this year’s series.
He was 1/12 yesterday and has been cut into odds of 1/16 as of Wednesday morning, giving him an implied probability of 94% to win.
There is a considerable gap to who is second in the market at 16/1, with and even further out at 28/1 and 33/1 respectively.
Chris and Diane captivated audiences throughout the series. In the semi-final, they performed a Charleston to When You’re Smiling by The Blue Vipers Of Brooklyn and a Viennese waltz to Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters.
But in the lead up to the final Chris has revealed he is “emotionally weak”.
He said: “I’ll be honest, I got a bit emotional before…I’m weak at the minute, I’m emotionally weak. It doesn’t take much to set me off. We did the waltz before and the way it works on Saturday, we’re going to do our Couple’s Choice, then we’ll do our Show Dance then we’ll do the waltz.
“We rehearsed the waltz, and I realised that this is going to be the last dance that we do, and I imagined it all being over on Saturday and it being the last time we dance on the show and it upset me.”
He also defiantly declared that “if Strictly is purely a dance competition give it to Tasha” after he was subjected to trolls questioning his place in the series.
He insisted critics “don’t really bother me” but focused on the “overwhelmingly incredible and beautiful” support they’d received.
The four remaining couples will compete in the Strictly 2024 final next week, performing three dances each: their favourite routine, the judges’ pick, and a spectacular show dance.
But Chris won’t appear on the Strictly tour in January and February because he begins his own 250 date sellout Yonks! tour.
The show will begin in Winchester on January 13 and wrap in April 2026.
Chris named the show Yonks! after being called an ‘overnight success’, even though he’s been doing stand-up for yonks.
Recently Chris hosted his own chat show The Show for ITV, which has just been nominated for a TV Choice Award.
He’s also appeared on entertainment favourites such as Blankety Blank and The Jonathan Ross Show, along with celebrity editions of The Chase, Pointless, and Mastermind – where he won with his chosen specialist subject of Pearl jam.
In 2023 Chris had his own travel series on Channel 4, Wonders of the World I Can’t See, and was also part of Channel 4’s hit new entertainment series, Scared of the Dark.
The Grand Final will air live on One and iPlayer on Saturday, December 14, at 6pm.