James Denton Says He’s ‘Still Paying’ for Doing Dancing with the Stars in France: ‘My Knees Are Just Destroyed’

James Denton’s time on the French version Dancing with the stars was fruitful – although it did not come without some lasting pain.

While speaking at a Christmas conference moderated by PEOPLE’s Breanne L. Heldman, Good witch star, 61, opened up about competing on the reality competition with dance partner Candice Pascal this year.

He told a crowd in Edison, NJ, on Dec. 14 that he was “still paying” for his DWTS stay after training and competition for “almost four months”.

“It was a great adventure, but both my knees were just destroyed. I’m still trying to recover,” he explained. “But it was a lot of fun, and the people were very nice.”

James Denton in December 2023.

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Denton added that he was asked to do DWTS in the past.

“I would never perform here because I’m not a dancer. That’s what they asked me to do Dancing with the stars in To France a lot of times, because Desperate Housewives he was huge there, and I never even considered it,” he said, referring to his role as Mike Delfino on the ABC series.

But when the Writers Guild of America went on strike in May 2023, followed by the Screen Actors Guild in July, Denton said he changed his stance.

“They take care of you, and it was a great adventure,” he continued.

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Still, Denton said the experience scared him, because it was unlike anything he had ever done before. “It terrified me and I knew then that I had to do it,” he emphasized. “But it was scary. Scary!”

The actor also noticed that DWTS in France it is different because the live routines are longer than two minutes, as opposed to the one-minute routines during the broadcast in the United States.

James Denton at Christmas Con on December 14, 2024.

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As for stage jitters, Denton said it’s not something he usually deals with — “because you just accept what happens” — but when he performed live for the first time, he said, “My heart was pounding so hard. I felt I was like a little kid. It was exciting, but really scary.”

Denton stayed in the competition for six weeks. “I just didn’t want to be out for the first week or two. I wanted to stay for a while,” he said.

“Actually, when I was voted off, the host said, ‘I’ve never seen anyone so happy to be kicked out,'” Denton continued. “The people that stayed were a lot better than me and I just survived because the fans were really good and they kept me alive I think.”

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“So, if I had stayed longer, I would have felt guilty, because they were so much better,” he added of his fellow contestants.

Denton, who does not speak French, learned a certain phrase in France.

“I learned something, but mostly it was just: ‘Je suis désolé, mon français est nul’ — ‘I’m sorry, my French is bad,'” he said.

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Source: HIS Education