Entertainment

Anton Du Beke reveals Ruth Langsford froze during her first Strictly dance

He said she could not move her legs.
He said she could not move her legs. He said she could not move her legs.

Ruth Langsford was left frozen by stage fright in her first week on Strictly Come Dancing, her professional partner Anton Du Beke has said.

The This Morning star, who tackled a waltz for her first routine, was unable to move her legs when the music started, he added.

Du Beke told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The first week dancing with Ruthie, we are doing the waltz and she’s sat on the sofa like this, ready to dance and I come round and the music starts and I put my hand out to take hold of her and she doesn’t move.

“She’s supposed to move forward and she looks at me and goes ‘I can’t move my leg’.

“I remember Dave Arch (the band leader) looking over her shoulder going ‘I don’t know what to do.'”

He joked: “I think ‘give her a shove’ and you didn’t see this, this is off camera, but Dave got off out of the pit and he shoved her. No I’m kidding, but you almost need that to keep going.”

Du Beke said the nerves of dancing on live television can defeat even those used to the pressures of live broadcasts.

He added: “You speak to anyone, especially if they’ve worked in live TV like Ruth or Charlotte (Hawkins) and they go ‘I’m a bit nervous but I’ll be alright, I’ll be fine’ and then suddenly you sit on set and Alan goes ‘dancing the tango,’ and they announce your name and suddenly your legs go, your mind’s gone blank, the legs go numb.”

Du Beke, who announced his debut album From The Top is released on November 24, said he does not suffer from nerves, with the exception of the night he duetted on Me And My Shadow with Sir Bruce Forsyth.

He said: “That is still the highlight of my performing life, to have the opportunity to do something like that with your hero. Brucie was completely my hero and just the greatest moment I’ve ever had on telly.

“It was just wonderful. I don’t get really nervous on the show actually because I sort of know what I’m doing, this was the only time I got nervous.

“I was stood in the wings doing that thing all the celebrities do, going ‘Hello? I can’t remember my steps, I can’t remember the words, I can’t remember the opening word’, and then the music starts and away you go.”