Layton Williams admits to being’sweating and overwhelmed’ before the first Strictly Come Dancing live broadcast.
The Bad Education actress, 28, who has previously performed in productions of Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Rent, and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, is one of the prominent faces that participate on the BBC dancing series’ newest season.
Layton and partner Nikita Kuzmi received a 29 from the judges for their Samba to Touch by Little Mix on the first episode.
While they scored one of the night’s most successful scores, the performer has since stated that he was quite scared.
‘I had a little bit of a wobble just before…’ he shared when appearing on Lorraine on Tuesday.
‘I saw my mum and my sister on the screen and there was a lot of information [to take in] and I was like “oh my god, oh my god” and then Nikita took my hands and said “you’ve got this”.
‘Then I just got in my box, and I could see myself on a screen and it was all a bit much.’
However, he said that once their names got called out, it was ‘game on’.
Following criticism that Layton had an unfair edge due to his past dancing skills, his dance partner defended him on the ITV show.
‘Right now, we are training in ballroom, which is completely new for him,’ Nikita said.
‘It is also two bodies moving together which he has never done.’
The professional dancer then quipped that Layton was trying to lead him during practise, which would not work.
‘Maybe he can try it one day,’ he joked.
The couple is the show’s sixth same-sex couple, following in the footsteps of Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer and Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice, who participated in 2022.
Layton revealed in August that he will be collaborating with a man on X, previously Twitter.
He shared a message to his fans at the time that read: ‘I’m 100% gonna be paired up with a man’ followed by a string of dancing emojis.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One.
Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV1.
