Chizzy Akudolu said she had “loads of swear words” running through her head when her shoe get stuck in her dress during her Strictly Come Dancing debut.

The Holby City actress was performing a cha-cha with her professional partner Pasha Kovalev during the first night of the BBC dance contest and was nearly thrown off when the heel of her shoe got caught in the hem of her blue frock.

Akudolu told host Zoe Ball on spin-off show It Takes Two that although she danced on, she was swearing in her head about the wardrobe malufunction.

Chizzy Akudolu and Pasha Kovalev
Chizzy Akudolu and Pasha Kovalev (BBC/Ray Burmiston/PA)

“I thought, ‘I’m going to trip, any minute now I’m going to trip’,” she said.

Good Morning Britain star Charlotte Hawkins was also on the programme and revealed she was suffering from nerves during her first Strictly dance.

“I was absolutely terrified,” she confessed.

“I was trying to stay as calm as I could throughout the day but I didn’t really manage that very well at all!”

Charlotte Hawkins
Charlotte Hawkins (Matt Crossick/PA)

Hawkins’s partner Brendan Cole said he could “feel the terror” as they started their routine but insisted she delivered a terrific performance.

Asked by Ball whether everyone wanted to impress new judge Shirley Ballas, Cole joked it was “the other way around”. “She’s trying to impress us,” he laughed.