Reverend Richard Coles feared he would suffer a horrific incident on the first week of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 55-year-old Church of England priest has admitted as he has got older he finds he gets "shakier at height", and on week one of the BBC One dance competition the contestant was hoisted to a harness and lifted above the audience on a cloud, much to his terror, as he thought he would plummet to the ground, suffer an injury and be forced to quit the show.
Speaking to The Radio Times magazine about his concern about the routine, he said: "On week one, which now feels so long ago, it was not so much the imminent prospect of performing in a metier for which I have neither experience nor aptitude in front of a crowded studio audience, ten million people at home, four judges, and a company of world champion dancers, that gave me the collywobbles. No, it was the slow ascent to the heavens in the fluffy cloud on which I made my entrance.
"Jared and Gareth, cloudwranglers, helped me up onto the platform hidden by giant cotton wool buds, strapped me into my sparkly harness and up I went, higher and higher, carried aloft by an electric motor and steel cables until I was on a level with the giant strictly glitter ball in the gods.
"As I got older, like lots of people, I find I get shakier at height, so I was holding onto my golden harp with grim determination wondering if my ‘Strictly’ entrance might also be my ‘Strictly’ exit."
And Richard’s nerves hit him so hard he almost forget to strum the harp in time with the in house band.
Speaking about another potential blunder, he said: "Then Alan ‘voice-of-‘Strictly” Dedicoat said, ‘And now…’ the band struck up, the motor whirred, and I realised that as I descended, wobbling like jelly, I had to twang the harp in time to the music and look like I was having the time of my life."
It was only when Richard caught sight of his professional dance partner Dianne Buswell on the ground.
He explained: "Fortunately at that moment I saw my partner Dianne below, encouragement beaming out of her smile, and suddenly boldness suffused me, and I twanged that harp like Jimi Hendrix his guitar."
And Richard only hopes his "boldness holds up" for the duration of the contest .
He said: "I hope boldness holds up."
Richard Coles feared for his life on first ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ episode
