Thom Evans is hoping to bring sexy back to the dance floor after admitting that his nerves got the better of him during his first performance on Strictly Come Dancing.

The rugby heartthrob danced a waltz with his professional partner Iveta Lukosiute during the opening weekend of the BBC ballroom show.

The Strictly judges criticised the sportsman-turned-model for playing it too safe, with Len Goodman calling his dance "a little bit careful", while Bruno Tonioli begged him to be "more sexy" this week.

Thom admitted on spin-off show It Takes Two that first-night jitters played a part in his cautious performance.

He said of his live show experience: "I felt like I kind of let my nerves get the better of me, but it was just an amazing experience with the band, the audience... awesome."

Talking about the judges' comments, he said: "I think I looked quite nervous and I went a bit too fast in the routine, slightly messed up a bit, which Craig (Revel Horwood) picked up on, but I was so happy to just get through it. It was just such a lovely experience to dance with [Iveta] - she makes it very easy. "

Thom also admitted not being allowed to look at his partner while they were dancing, because of the rigid ballroom hold, was tricky.

"That was my biggest issue," he said. "Whenever I've danced with a girl in the past I like to look at them and I just found it so hard, she was like 'don't look at me, don't look at me'."

Thom will dance the salsa this weekend and promised he would bring out a different side of himself for the fun Latin dance.

"I cannot wait to do the salsa. The up-tempo song will hopefully bring out the sexiness in me as Bruno was talking about. In the waltz it was hard to do that, especially in the first dance. I can't wait to shake those hips!"