Stevens: 'Strictly dance-off was awful'

Rachel Stevens has admitted that she struggled to cope with her experience in the dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend.

The former S Club singer and partner Vincent Simone were eventually saved by the judges after finding themselves in the bottom two for the first time in the competition. Meanwhile, M People star Heather Small and American dancer Brian Fortuna were voted off.

Speaking on spinoff show It Takes Two tonight, Stevens revealed that she came close to crumbling under the pressure when she was asked to dance again.

"It was just so horrible," she explained, "and when we [performed] our second dance, I messed up a little bit and I was just thinking: 'Oh my God, they judge it by the last dance'. And Heather and Brian, I thought were so great. I think that was their best dance, so I was just like: 'We could be going home'. I was just so heartbroken to think we could be leaving. [It was] awful."

She added: "You've got to take the positives from it. It's made me even more determined."

Stevens reportedly wept and had to be comforted by Simone after the result was confirmed.