Eddie the Eagle: I was disorientated and unbalanced during The Masked Dancer

Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards has said he was “disorientated and unbalanced” during his performances on The Masked Dancer as he struggled to breathe in his costume.

The ski jumper and former Olympian, 57, was identified as the mystery dancer inside the elaborate Rubber Chicken outfit during the ITV programme on Tuesday.

Edwards described his costume as “really fun” but added that it was “quite restrictive” to dance in.

“You couldn’t see out of it very well and it was a dark studio as well, which made things hard,” he told the PA news agency.

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“Also you couldn’t breathe very well so I was really breathing heavily just to get the oxygen in.”

He added he became “disorientated and unbalanced” as he was not “getting enough oxygen in”.

“So it was quite tough doing it in the outfit,” he added.

Edwards said he dances in his spare time and mainly does the modern jive “because there’s no real footwork”.

“The second routine they asked me to do was a bit more jivey, but it was the old traditional jive and a lot of footwork, and trying to do it with my chicken feet was really tough,” he said.

“I can do it in a dance studio perfectly but trying to do it with my chicken feet on was a bit of a challenge.”

He added: “Learning different choreography was really good… so hopefully it will improve my dancing in the future.”

Edwards said he would be open to further television appearances and would accept an offer of going on ITV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

“I was asked to do Dancing On Ice a couple of years ago but I was too busy, because that’s six months of your schedule and that’s a long time to take out of your schedule,” he added.

Eddie the Eagle, whose real name is Michael Edwards, ski jumped in the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming the first person to represent Great Britain in the event since 1928.

ITV show The Masked Dancer, a spin-off from hit series The Masked Singer, sees 12 celebrities perform routines disguised in elaborate costumes as the panel of Jonathan Ross, Oti Mabuse, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan try to guess their identities.

Stars who have previously had their identities revealed in the programme include burlesque star Dita Von Teese, singer Louise Redknapp and Diversity dancer Jordan Banjo.