Shaun Wright-Phillips scored 15 points on his Strictly Come Dancing debut, with the football pundit admitting the crowd's atmosphere intensified his nerves during his Cha Cha with professional partner Alexis Warr.
The former England international and his partner performed to Lil Boo Thang by Paul Russell on Saturday's live show, receiving a relatively modest score on the leaderboard which will carry forward to next week as nobody was sent home during the opening week.
Anxious warm-up admission
Posting on Instagram in a joint message with Alexis, he confessed he had "felt quite anxious during the warm up". Following his debut dance, Shaun elaborated: "After two weeks of demanding training and a lot of frustrating moments, to be honest, I felt quite anxious during the warm-up, and walking to the car to take my seat involved a pep talk to breathe and take everything in stride."
"The crowd's atmosphere was impressive but intensified my nerves, though I began to settle once I started. I was pleased to perform every step accurately in the routine. I am keen to start on Monday, developing the new dance and taking the judges' feedback on board. Can't wait for what's ahead!"
Fans and judges react
Supporters rushed to Instagram and X, previously Twitter, to express the same sentiment, encouraging the former England international to "not hold back". One said: "Footwork was good, he just needs to perform more facially. Love them though. Hopefully Shaun will come out of his shell more."
Another commented: "Firstly I just want to say how entertaining Shaun was in this Cha Cha Cha. He's nervous and he looked lost at the beginning - he was also very stiff throughout but putting all that aside I love the song choice for a Cha Cha and as long as Shaun is enjoying himself that's what matters most."
"Alexis is a fantastic pro who will no doubt bring the best out of Shaun and help him to grow in confidence as the competition progresses. Shaun is exactly what SCD is all about and I can't wait see him slowly start to get better through the competition as his journey continues."
A third fan agreed, adding: "Aww Shaun, he just needs to loosen up and feel confidence", while a fourth echoed: "Shaun, don't hold back, just let loose and enjoy it. Hoping we see him do a ballroom next week, got a feeling he could have some ballroom magic."
Head judge Shirley Ballas was quick to praise the football icon, saying as part of her feedback on the night: "You danced a checked forward walk and a checked forward walk is used to change direction, and you changed direction superbly. You used a back cucaracha, which requires two straight legs to manoeuvre your lady, stayed slap bang on time."
"When you move in Rumba or Cha Cha, one leg should be straight and one leg should be bent. You swing that bent one underneath the body, you kept them a little bit too straight, but there was so much here to like with room for improvement."
"Did I actually see a sweetheart with a natural top? You see, you had some good choreography in there along with your tricks and flicks and everything else you did."
Leaderboard position
Shaun finds himself amongst three dancers languishing at the foot of the leaderboard following Saturday evening's performances, alongside Dame Sarah Storey and her professional partner Julian Caillon, plus Melanie Walters and her partner Aljaž Škorjanec.
Their marks from the opening week will be added to their forthcoming scores from week two before the inaugural contestant faces elimination. Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Saturday at 6.15pm.
